The Lost Descendants
by tianacarter2711
Summary: What if Shisui fathered a child that no one knew about? His final request - for Itachi to protect her and her divine secret. Emiko grows up under Itachi's watch, and eventually finds herself in Konoha, following a mysterious prophecy and a young man about to make it come true. What role do they play in the world of shinobi? How is Naruto tied in to all of this? OCxOCNaruxHinaVERYAU
1. Prologue

**Okay, so this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction in a looong time. For the sake of the story, Itachi is eighteen when he slaughters the Uchiha clan, ten years older than Sasuke, and Shisui is twenty two when he dies. The story will mostly be non-canon, and will revolve around two OC, but still focusing on events in Konoha, and more specifically, Naruto and Hinata. A bit of an alternate universe, yet still having the components of Naruto's story. Enjoy! Please read and review! **

**Prologue**

"_You're my best friend and the only one I can count on... protect the village... and the Uchiha name"_

Itachi glanced at the bloody eye he held, then back at his best friend. Shisui, with both his eye sockets now hollow and tears of blood escaping in small rivers down his face, smiled despite this, knowing he was leaving the fate of his clan in good hands. If anyone could protect the Uchiha legacy, it would be Itachi. Still there was something troubling Shisui; one last thing he must make sure remained a secret and protected no matter what.

"Itachi, I have something else I want to tell you. Something else you must follow through until the end of your days. You must forgive me though, for I have kept this even a secret from you, who I consider to be my closest friend and brother," Shisui turned away from Itachi, facing the roaring Naka River and the steep cliff below. His face showed no signs of emotion, but Itachi knew better than that. The way he spoke, the calmness in his voice and his impassive expression, meant that this was more important than the situation with the clan. The wind blew fiercely around them, causing their cloaks to flutter around them like leaves in the wind.

Itachi waited silently.

"Although you are going to spare your brother, he will not be the only remaining member of the Uchiha besides you."

The wind howled around them, even stronger than before, like their ancestors were calling out to the two men in high-pitched screams. Shisui's words finally registered within Itachi.

"What do you mean?! You... you have a child?" Shock dripped from his words, and Shisui could imagine his surprised look all too clearly, regardless of his lack of vision. He grinned, glad to know that even in his last moments he was able to pull the wool over his comrade's eyes. He chuckled to himself.

"Ten kilometres north east from the sea, where Uzushiogakure, the Land of Whirlpools used to thrive, there is a miniscule village on the border of Yugakure and our land. In that village you will find a women with the longest, most beautiful golden hair, and the brightest, bluest eyes you would have ever seen, as though the sun resides within those eyes..."

Shisui gazed off in to the distance, looking towards the sky with his hollow eye sockets. His expression was no longer blank but deep sadness. He knew of Shisui's often visits to the north when he was not needed by the clan, but Shisui had always claimed they were for relaxation purposes only. His eyes widened at the thought of Shisui, fathering a son or daughter.

"You will know when you see her – she is very hard to miss. Akemi is an orphan, having lost her parents in war. S-she has no one else, Itachi. I have known Akemi for many years, and when I was old enough to understand women more, I found myself falling in love with her. I fathered a daughter to Akemi seven years ago. S-she is so beautiful in every way. I am sorry for not revealing this to you earlier, but Akemi has recently developed an incurable illness. M-my daughter, Emiko, please protect her. I will forever regret not being able to be there for her, and for my child. But you will, Itachi. Y-you must find Akemi, and protect her secret. Please, my _very final, personal request_ is for you to protect the two of them as much as you are able to. As my best friend, my brother; please be there for them where I was not able to."

"I will, brother."

Shisui's fists shook violently, and for a moment Itachi truly thought he was crying.

"_Tell them... to forgive me!"_

With a cry he filled his palms with chakra and placed them over his eyes, blasting chakra through his hollow sockets and right through his skull. He dropped to one knee, and with a smile on his face, knowing his legacy would be protected, tumbled over the rocky edge of the cliff, into the ferocious thrashing river, at least a hundred feet below. The river claimed his mangled body, and swept it off to no return.

Itachi stood rigidly, not moving a muscle as he watched all this happen. He glanced down at the eye of Shisui again and thought about how meaningless this was compared to the other half of what Shisui left for him. His hands shook as he retrieved a small jar filled halfway with clear fluid, and placed Shisui's eye gently in it. He gripped it tightly in his bloody hand, gazing at it as a single drop of rain descended from the heavens to land on the jar. He glanced up, just as the heavens opened and poured tears unto the earth.

"I will keep my word Shisui. I will protect your child!"

**Thoughts? **


	2. Chapter One

**Eight years later...**

"Are we there yet?!"

I trudged irritably along after Uncle, who walked at a slow but steady pace, towards our destination. There was no other sign of life on the long, narrow dirt path except for us and the rare rabbit that crossed our course. The sun beat down on the both of us, so hot, it made it seem as though the air was melting in to the ground. It was a cloudless day, and the blue sky stretched far past the canopy of trees that shaded us from the worst of the sun's heat.

"Please be patient, Emiko-sama. We would have reached our destination sooner if you hadn't been so late in waking up this morning." Uncle replied teasingly.

"Six thirty in the morning isn't late! You're the weird one! You wake up at ungodly hours of the day Uncle! Even papa would let me sleep until at least seven..." I sighed, pushing the painful memory of my father to the back of my mind. He had left us, abandoned us, just to save his clan and village, and then ended up dying for the cause, still loving his village. That love for your clan... love for your people, is something I will never understand with shinobi. Even Uncle holds these feelings dear. They just seem like silly ideals to me. Then again, I have never experienced love for any other person besides mother and father, and then eventually uncle. The feeling of belonging to a clan, of pride in your village and _"the will of fire"_, as he described it, was a foreign concept to me.

"We will reach the village in about an hour. Please, until then, can you just walk quietly?"

I hung my head, admitting defeat. Uncle was never any fun. I ventured ahead, slipping off my black hooded-cloak that Uncle insist I wear at all times. I was glad that I had worn light clothing – a white tank top with nothing much to be proud of and black nylon shorts that clung to my slender waist and embarrassingly full hips, along with my flat sandals, with thin leather straps that wrapped around my leg and tied in a bow behind my knees. My kunai holster hung at my right side, while my faded ox-leather pouch hung around my left side, packed with various ninja tools that uncle and father thought were essential for me. I reached up to my head and yanked on the white ribbon. It unravelled, and soft raven hair tumbled down my shoulders like waves, just past my breasts, no longer constricted. I ran my hands through my hair, trying to rid it of any knots it may have accumulated from being tied up all day. We were about half way to the mysterious village Uncle was taking me to. I was getting tired of waiting and bored, when an idea struck. It was the perfect time for me to show him my awesome new jutsu! Usually when training uncle wouldn't let me use my abilities to their full potential, and wanted to focus on taijutsu and genjutsu and everything else, except ninjutsu. He said it was too dangerous for me to utilize my abilities just yet and thus kept my mother's scrolls from me. I glanced ahead and spotted the perfect place. I rushed towards it, focusing my chakra on the sole of my feet to run up the trunk of the tree.

"Uncle! Uncle! Watch this!" I shouted to the figure below as I stood on the highest branch of a tall pine tree, about fifty metres above the ground, who stopped in his tracks and lifted his arm to shield his eyes from the sun as he stared up at me. Now that I had his attention, I made the seals for my new jutsu I had been working on with the help of one of mother's secret scrolls that I had... acquired. I thrust my hand in to the air, concentrating all of my chakra in to my fingertips.

Energy started to pool at the tips of my fingers, drawing away any light from the bright sky and making the air around me burn and radiate heat. My chakra drew in all the energy around me, focusing it at my fingertips to the point where it stung and felt as though my fingers were on fire. Of course it hurt – I was literally creating a mini-sun with my chakra. I knew the risks of this new jutsu, but I had to prove to my uncle that I could protect myself so he'd stop babying me and allow me access to the rest of her scrolls.

"STOP EMIKO! That jutsu will kill you!" He yelled, reacting to the power that was building around me, bathing me in unbearable light that would have blinded anybody else. But not me.

"_Heavenly Radiance!" _

With the energy now focused in to the shape of a thin blade, I pushed it outwards in the opposite direction to where uncle was standing. A burst of light, faster than the human eye was capable of seeing, and the stench of something burning filled the air. The feeling caused my hairs to stand on end, and I was blasted back by the sheer force of the explosion I caused. My body flew through the air and slammed against a tree. I felt my landing soften, and opened my hazy eyes to someone holding me upright on the ground. I had used too much of my energy absorbing chakra for my jutsu and now I was drained from using it once, how foolish of me. I didn't even have enough chakra to stay conscious. I could feel myself slipping away, further in to darkness.

* * *

_There was a soft knock on the door. Knock, knock, knock. _

_My mother, glistening with sweat and in severe pain, still tried to get up to answer the door. I gently pushed her back down with my small hands, shaking my head at her. She smiled kindly, and then began a fit of coughs. I passed her an already blood-laden handkerchief and she coughed in to it gratefully. _

_I took out my kunai from my pouch, and slowly unlocked the door, keeping the latch attached just in case. Father had always told mother and I to keep the latch on at all times, that there were always people after him that could find out about mother and I at any moment. I peeped through the slightly ajar door, and saw a figure standing on the porch with his back to the door. _

"_What do you want?" _

_He turned around to face me and I caught sight of his face. He was a tall and lean pale man with the same raven hair as fathers and my own. He had two marks running down from his eyes and the sides of his nose. His eyes were pitch black._

"_I assume you are Emiko?" he started, giving me a look that could only be described as curious and perplexed. His voice was deep, firm but gentle. I looked him up and down once more, wondering who this strange man was and how he knew my name. Father had warned me of people who would come for me one day, but I hadn't knew it would come so soon. I activated my sharingan, fixing my eyes on the unfamiliar person. _

"_Who wants to know?! Choose you words carefully, and be warned! I can tell if you're lying and I will destroy you with a single glance!" _

_Instead of cowering in terror, he simply chuckled. What?! HE WAS LAUGHING AT ME? My anger rose and I waited for him to meet my eyes so I could end his fate, or at least make him think I did. _

"_You are your father's daughter," he simply said, still chuckling, as he finally lifted his gaze and met my eyes directly. I gasped, for this stranger had a sharingan just like mine and father's! It glowed brightly, the all-too familiar triple tomoe fending off my attempt at putting him in a genjutsu with my double tomoe. _

"_To even be able to use the sharingan to this level at the age of seven... and to almost put me under a genjutsu... Shisui, you have taught her well. I will take over from here." _

_My eyes widened at the mention of my father's name. What was he going on about? Who was he? Did he just compliment my doujutsu abilities? _

"_Emiko, please let the man inside," coughed my mother from her position on the mattress that I had set in the main room. I had moved her from the bedroom in to the kitchen so it was easier for her to get up and go to the bathroom, and also so I could be next to her all the time. I unlatched the door, my eyes flashing back to their original vivid sapphire colour. I opened the door, and the figure took a step inside our small hut. _

_My mother sat up, leaning more against the wall so she could look at our guest properly. She smiled, and a small trace of blood escaped from the corner of her mouth. _

"_Itachi... I have heard a lot about you. This must mean..." mother's voice trailed off, and she looked completely heart-broken. I went to her side as she hung her head, afraid that she was in pain, but as I knelt next to her I felt her whole body shaking, and sobs rocked her form. Tears dripped from her usually bright eyes on to her soft hands that trembled violently. I looked at the man in anger, demanding why he was here from him and my mother. Tears welled in my eyes, threatening to overflow. Finally, the man called Itachi spoke. _

"_I am sorry. It was for the good of his village. Shisui said to forgive him, please."_

**Any thoughts? So for this story I will create a new bloodline limit, and obviously a story about it's background. Although it is written in Emiko's POV, it will switch occasionally for the sake of the story. More will be revealed about Itachi, this bloodline limit and other plot twists veeeery soon. I have no life, so expect updates regularly. Reviews would be awesome, so let me know what you think! **


	3. Chapter Two

**Okay, so I recently received some negative feedback on this story. Firstly, one commented on the POV change. It will be most likely changing from either the main character(s) POV, and every now and then to 'god's eye'. The first chapter was written in god's eye because the main characters weren't present, so naturally I'd make the second chapter in Emiko's POV. Second, you might view my character as Mary Sue, or think that I've made an attempt to "put my own life into the story". I have done no such thing, nor do I plan on making my character out like she's perfect. She will have her strong points as well as her flaws. I do have a plan guys, I'm not just making this up as I go along... well, for most parts anyway. And, I have not labelled my story incorrectly by adding Hinata and Naruto to the main character slots – it just wouldn't let me have two OC as the main characters, and they are the closest to main characters that I plan on having. But if you read the summary, is only mentions Naruto once. Does that mean that I am "falsely advertising" my story just so I can get views? I could not care less about the views, and write for my own satisfaction and personal accomplishment. So yeah, a bit disappointed that 2 out of the 3 reviews I have received were negative feedback, but I'm glad that people are actually taking the time to read it! Give me a chance to prove to you that this story will actually have some depth to it.**

* * *

I sat on the porch of my room, staring out at the rain. It was unrelenting. It never showed any signs of seizing, or easing up. It fell in continuous, thick and heavy droplets like an everlasting storm of blood. The eternal grey clouds had always covered the sky – I'm not even sure I knew what colour the sky was supposed to be; orange? Pink? Green? Brown? Not like it mattered anyway, I wouldn't get the chance to see it if I continued to stay in this country that always cries. Amegakure. It was said it began to rain eternally during the third shinobi war, and never stopped since, because the country was always crying for its land that was ravaged by war.

I sighed. I wished that I could even _dream _about a place far, far away from here, where trees grew in the warm rays of the sun, and the rain never lasted longer than a day or night. A place where war hadn't destroyed most of its landscape, transforming it into a barren, muddy and humid wasteland. A least in the desert you could experience the feeling of dry sand in between your toes, rather than soggy sludge. Where the lakes weren't overflowing with water and paths were actually accessible. If I could even _dream _of a place like that, _imagine _it and escape to it every now and then, I would feel as though I were living a tolerable life. But that was impossible because I had never been anywhere else but here, so I wouldn't have a clue what any of these happier sensations felt like.

"Kazuya-sama," a faint voice broke my revelry. Our youngest servant, a six year old girl named Chiyaki, stood behind me in the arch of the doorway, with her head bowed. She was my father's most recent souvenir from war, and the daughter of a feudal lord from Kumogakure. He had claimed the child at the age of five, and after half a year of incessant sobs and failed attempts at escape, she finally realised, like they all do eventually, that there was no hope of returning to their old home. She wore a simple white kimono, symbolizing her purity.

"Your father has summoned you."

I exhaled noisily. I gripped my katana in my left hand, while pushing myself up off my position on the porch. I followed the small girl through the screen doors, and she shut them behind us, to keep the humid air out and preserve the cool, stale atmosphere of our home. The little light that poured in through clear windows fixed in to our roof was still hazy and not very intense due to the thin layer of mildew that covered it, so our home was in a constant state of darkness. Even worse than that, with every room I passed down the dim, narrow hallway all I could hear were soft whimpering and sobs, accompanied by loud thuds and cruel chuckling echoing all throughout the hall. Every now and then a high-pitched shriek would sound through the house, but quickly followed by thunderous thumps and bangs. I grated my teeth, while Chiyaki covered her ears in fear at the sounds emitting from each room. We passed a young girl, probably only a year younger than me, leaning against the doorway to a recently occupied room. Her clothes were tattered, her seemingly youthful painted face streaked with tears. However that wasn't what made my fists clench, my blood boil to the point where I wanted to just annihilate whoever did this. Her cheeks were bruised; her lip had a gash that bled and dripped all over her dark grey kimono and her eye throbbed viciously. Not only that, but through the rips in her clothes I caught sight of several massive bruises covering her body and deep cuts that looked as though they had just missed vital organs. She whimpered violently, shaking and shivering in the doorway as she waited for a medical ninja to heal her, and for the torture to start all over again.

As we crossed into the next section of the property, Chiyaki uncovered her ears as soon as the sounds were behind us. I caught sight of a single tear running down her young face. I felt ashamed. We arrived to a screen door guarded by two men in heavy armour, the entrance barely lit by two single floor lanterns. They slid back the screen, and I stepped through, dismissing Chiyaki.

The room yielded no light at all, the windows and screen doors having been reinforced to purposely keep the light out. The rough carpet was a light beige colour, and the walls were painted with murals of cherry blossom trees in full bloom. It was pitch-black room, so none of these qualities that would separate it from a torture chamber were seen. My eyes that were so naturally adjusted to this darkness that I saw the figure at the end of the room straight away, sitting in his throne of gold while two women in chains cowered at his feet. I approached him directly, stopping only a few metres away from the frightened, snivelling women.

"Must you treat them like this?" I demanded of the figure, though I knew my attempt was futile.

A deep, menacing laugh echoed through the room. "Like what? These women must know their place in our world, Kazuya. They must know what it feels like to suffer as our ancestor suffered. They must learn to respect the darkness, to obey it." He replied curtly. "I have no time for your silly ideals today. I have called you hear because of an important matter. As you know, tomorrow is your sixteenth birthday. Tomorrow you will inherit the legacy that our great ancestors left behind specifically for you. If the prophecy is correct then you will be the end of our plight, the very final one. You will be the one to lead us into a new era."

I stared at the katana in my hands, churning the thought around in my head. I wasn't sure if I was ready for such a... big fate. Was it really what I truly wanted? I knew it was what I was born, what I was_ created_ for; I could feel it resonating deep within my bones. The undeniable urge, the flaming desire, the burning hatred... it was the reason I lived, I knew that much. Or did I? It had been programmed in to me since I was a mere baby, still crying out for a mother's embrace that would never come. Suddenly I was very doubtful of my ability to lead our clan to its destiny.

"I-I don't know father... I don't think I can do this. Can we not get someone else, maybe Takeshi, or-"

My father stomped his foot thunderously, causing the floor to vibrate. The women whimpered even louder. My head snapped up immediately, and I could feel the waves of hatred and pure darkness that rolled off my father and hit me with full force. I gasped as memories washed through my brain, images that were incomprehensive yet very familiar. A hazy image of a woman's smiling face, the colour of blood, the high-pitched screams coming from various rooms, and a dark emptiness consuming me. I yelled at my father to stop, but he continued to focus his black, piercing eyes on me to the point where I was the one moaning on the ground, begging for release from this cursed genjutsu. He shut his eyes, ending the spell. I struggled to my feet, not being able to find the right words to say to my spiteful father. My rage engulfed the room in a cold, nothingness. I tried to control it by reeling back in the feelings of hatred and malice, but my body trembled intensely, radiating rays of darkness and filling the air with a cold chill. My father laughed to himself, and the sound was like a slap in the face to a person having a hysterical fit for me, and brought me back to reality. I calmed myself down, slowly urging the darkness to return to its dwelling within my body. He snapped his fingers, and a flame appeared. Though small and not very bright, it filled the room with radiance and I gasped in horror. The walls were not painted with murals of cherry blossom trees in full bloom, but hanging in chains around the room were around twenty or so women. All were naked, bruised and bloodied. Some were to the point of starvation, nothing more than bones protruding out of flesh. Some looked as though their injuries were fresh. The areas where they were bound by chains – their necks, wrists, and ankles – were bleeding because the metal had cut deep in to their skin from the force of gravity pulling them towards the ground while the chains tried to keep them suspended there. Most were unconscious, save for the few who were breathing very shallowly.

"This is the fate of women. They may be the givers of life, but we still control their death. This is how it always was, since the beginning of mankind." He paused, reaching for one of the girl's faces. She stared up at him with frightful eyes, silently pleading with him to let her go. With a sharp twisting action, and a crack, father broke her neck, and then chuckled. I wished he would extinguish the light, to hide the mangled bodies around him.

"Your destiny is to lead us in to a new era of darkness, after generations and generations of bloodshed. You will finish this mission, whether you want to or not, and trust me, you will definitely want to."

I was at my limit and shouted, "what do you know about me?! You don't know if I will want to kill or not!"

My father looked up at me again, this time with an amused expression, an evil humour glinting in his soulless eyes. An insane grin crept on to his dark face.

"Tomorrow, on your sixteenth birthday, you will develop a blazing yearning that will set your blood on fire and give you the strength to complete your duty. This desire can only be satiated by one sensation."

"What?! What is this duty and destiny that I must complete?"

"To usher in a new era of darkness, we must extinguish any light that may create hope. To satisfy your incurable longing... you must kill the descendant of the light."

* * *

**Okaaaaay, chapter three is posted! I finally got around to establishing the initial plot, so everything from here should run smoothly. I have already began chapter four and am about a quarter of the way through, so expect an update tomorrow :) Please leave your thoughts in a review!**


	4. Chapter Three

**I am getting quite frustrated with this story to be honest. It's clear to me that nobody ever really reads Author's notes. As I said in the beginning of the last chapter... **

_**I CAN'T CHANGE THE SLOTS SO THAT THEY HAVE TWO OC AS THEY MAIN CHARACTERS, DESPITE THE COUNTLESS TIMES I HAVE TRIED TO CHANGE IT FOR THE SAKE OF PEOPLE WHO COMPLAIN ABOUT ME "LABELLING IT INCORRECTLY". **_

**So to save those who will be reporting me for false advertisement, I have simply removed Hinata from the character slots, and just have an OC and Naruto in the slot. Such a pity though, because it will eventually follow Naruto and Hinata, beginning with this chapter. Also, may critiques who take the internet waaay too seriously please refrain from assuming they know everything that will happen? And while I understand that people come to Naruto fanfiction archives to read alternate versions of their favourite moments and characters from the world of Naruto, hell that's the whole reason I began writing this story, I am only trying to make my **_**own**_** story with my **_**own **_**character, while also focusing on the current event in Konoha and the rest of the shinobi world. **

**Maybe, just maybe, I could get at least one positive review? It would make me feel a whole lot better about writing this.**

* * *

I awoke to brilliant daylight filtering through my closed eyelids, warmth engulfing my face and body. My eyes fluttered open lazily, my vision still hazy but slowing adjusting to my surroundings. I tried to sit up but my body was completely numb and from the neck down, I couldn't feel anything. I panicked. _Where was I? How did I get here? Where was uncle?! Why wasn't my body responding? _

I exhaled calmly, composing myself. I thought about what I remembered last, frowning. All I could remember was uncle and I walking towards some unknown village, and him saying we were almost there. I remember... trying to show uncle my new jutsu that I hadn't used before but had been practising, and a burning, sort of dazzling sensation. Did I succeed? Or maybe we were attacked. Did they capture uncle? I knew he wouldn't go down so easily. I had never seen him lose a fight. Maybe he had been called for a very important Akatsuki mission by his superiors, and had to leave our trip immediately. I shook my head. If uncle were called in, he wouldn't have just left me in a random spot. I considered the actuality of enemies far stronger than uncle. It seemed like the most probable option – uncle was a wanted man. If he had been captured, it was up to me to save him, I thought determinedly.

In a situation like this, when an enemy had you under a genjutsu or had paralyzed your body, it was best to take in as much of your surroundings as possible, and gather information on your circumstances or whereabouts from that. I craned my head to get a better look around me. I was in a small box shaped room. Directly opposite me was a door that was slightly ajar. Behind me, I guessed from the slight breeze tickling my neck and the intensity of the heat, was a window. And I was lying... in a bed, about three feet off the ground. Now I was perplexed. _Why was I in a bed? What happened to my body?! _I glanced left, and saw a bedside table, adorned with a small glass vase that held a blooming sunflower, and an alarm clock. I glanced to my right, and saw another bedside table; this was with nothing but a single sheet of paper. I glanced at it, noticing Uncle's unmistakable handwriting. I sighed a sigh of relief. At least he was okay, and it was nothing like I had thought of. I stretched my head as far as I could to read the note.

_Emiko, I am just in the next room, so please do not panic. Your body may be unable to move when you wake up. Please call out to me when you finally wake up, and I will explain everything. _

So I wasn't under any kind of genjutsu or paralyzing technique. I was desperate to know what had happened to my body. I tried to gather the natural energy around me to convert to chakra so I would regain my strength back, but nothing happened. As much as I tried, my chakra points all over my body wouldn't gather any natural energy.

"Uncle Itachi! Please come quickly!" I screamed, as terror seeped into my body and brain, and various situations went through my head, all pictures of dread and worst scenarios. Uncle finally entered the room, and sat on the edge of my bed. He grabbed my hand.

"Can you feel this?" He asked, tightening his fist around my fingers. I knew I should be able to, but I couldn't. I shook my head. He dropped my hand and sighed.

"What is wrong with me, Uncle?" I pleaded, desperate for answers.

"To understand what has happened to your body you must understand your chakra producing abilities. To help explain this, I will use one of your mother's forbidden scrolls," uncle propped me up against the pillows, and reached into his rucksack and pulled out a white scroll, with intricate markings that I had never seen before. My eyes widened at the thought of uncle finally explaining a little about these powers. My mother never wanted to reveal any of it to me, not even on her deathbed when I begged and begged for her to let me use my power to help her. She said that until I could comprehend my abilities, I was not to use it for any reason. She smiled at me, saying that one day I will understand.

Uncle carefully unraveled the scroll, and spread it across the bed, kneeling on the floor next to me as he pointed at the first picture. It depicted the outline of a human being, hands frozen in seals. Within that person was a singular ball of white energy, glowing brightly. Around the person, energy was drawn in to the ball. Next to that was the shape of another person, in the same position. Within that person was a singular ball of energy, the distinction being that the ball was a mixture of two colour – red and blue, and energy was flowing outwards from the outline.

"This is you." He pointed at the first picture. "This is me, or a normal shinobi." He pointed at the second picture. I nodded, not sure what the big difference was.

"Most shinobi are able to mold chakra by combining spiritual energy, seen here in blue and physical energy, shown in red. Our chakra is produced by various organs in our body, which feed that chakra to our chakra coils, which are all interconnected by the chakra circulatory system. Once molded, chakra can be released, so it pours through one, or many of our 361 chakra points around our body. Some points are restricted, so one cannot release every possible amount of chakra in their body, which would cause them to die. However, these Eight Gates can be opened, and will remove any limitations on the amount of chakra released. Everybody has chakra, but to mold chakra, one must be able to utilize physical energy, which is derived from the body's cells, and spiritual energy, the energy of the soul – this is called chakra control. By mixing different ratios of these, chakra becomes more distinct, taking on a different colour or a newfound strength. These two aspects combined are called your total-stamina, and the maximum amount of chakra one can produce is called your chakra power-level. Do you understand this?"

I nodded hesitantly. We have had this discussion about chakra before. "So how am I any different? I can mould chakra using my physical and spiritual energy easily, and use natural energy so what does this have to do with me?"

He shook his head. "That's where you are wrong. You don't have chakra producing organs, or physical or spiritual energy, and your energy is anything but natural."

My expression was one of shock and disbelief as my brain gradually took this in. I didn't have chakra producing organs or any energy inside of me? So why was I able to use jutsu? I knew I had the energy, I could feel it radiating through my limbs.

"So how can I use chakra for genjutsu and... I'm sure I'm able to use ninjutsu too..."

"You have a different kind of energy within you. It is very similar to senjutsu, natural energy, except you do not need physical or spiritual energy to balance it. Instead of having organs that produce chakra, the force in your body," he pointed at the white ball inside the first figure, "naturally creates chakra from the invisible energy around you – the sky, the earth, from feelings of those around you – from the energy of _everything,_ you are able to draw chakra in to your cells, and release them into your chakra circulatory system, and eventually through the chakra points. It is very basic, because there is no need for molding chakra, as it is stored in every cell in your body. You may not be aware of it, but at every single instance of your life, you are gaining chakra – it is flowing through your body, filling it to the brim with chakra, before releasing the pent up invisible energy through your chakra points so it doesn't corrode your body with the pure energy. Because of your lineage, you were not born with any restrictions on your chakra points, or the Eight Gates that I referred to earlier, because your chakra needs to constantly be released either naturally or through using jutsu. With genjutsu and taijutsu, you are only releasing a minimum amount of chakra, compared to when using ninjutsu and your sharingan. With ninjutsu, there are five basic elements – wind, fire, earth, water and lightning – that your chakra will react to and essentially, use in techniques. Ninja can have an affinity for one, two, or more elements. Your chakra however, is very, very complex for reasons unknown to me. I do know this – your chakra, when you purposely build up that energy at a certain point in your body, draws in not only natural energy but pure light energy. I saw it when you used that forbidden jutsu. It becomes unstable and when you release it, you are not only releasing it from that point where you purposely built up your chakra, but releasing it from every single point in your body. Because you don't have the restrictions of the Eight Gates, the energy is too much and it overflows your chakra points, damaging them to the point where they have closed. Because of this, you are not able to release chakra constantly and it has built up in your body, causing paralysis. That is why your mother did not want me to teach you any of the forbidden jutsu of her clan; because she knew that releasing so much energy from your fragile body would damage it like this. That is why it is very dangerous, and why you must learn to control your natural energy."

I sat in silence for a minute as my brain tried to make sense of my situation. Finally, with a shaky voice, I spoke.

"Does this mean I will be paralysed forever?" I uttered my worst fear. Not being able to move, being half a vegetable for the rest of my life would be a fate worse than death. Uncle Itachi smiled at me, brightening my hopes, before crushing them.

"Perhaps. But coincidentally, we are in the village of one of the most talented medical ninja that has ever lived, I believe. She will definitely be able to help you, don't worry Emiko!"

Uncle beamed at me, voice full of enthusiasm and optimism. His hope gave me hope; I trusted his words, as I trusted him with my life. But that didn't mean I was exactly happy about being a temporary cripple.

"So, who is this woman? What shitty little village are we in now?" I asked irritably, impatient to get this along with, so I could return to my normal, responsive self.

"She is known by many names – the Slug Princess, the sucker, but most refer to her as the Fifth Hokage, Lady Tsunade." My eyes just about popped out of my head. Uncle chuckled, amused by my reaction.

"S-so we're in..." I trailed off. I had dreamed this day would come, but I had hoped it would come under better circumstances. If it weren't for the fact that I was paralysed, I probably would have demanded that we go sight-seeing immediately.

"That's right. We are in mine, and your father's birthplace. The 'shitty' village, known as Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village."

* * *

**Thoughts? Is it too difficult to understand, or does it make sense to anyone? I know it's different to what is natural, but it has it's reasons. For the next chapter, I'm not sure who's POV I want to start with. Should I continue with Emiko's, or Kazuya's? Orrrrrr I could just begin with either Naruto, or Hinata's POV. Reviews would be nice :)**


	5. Chapter Four

Before the break of dawn, I had already packed my knapsack with various ninja tools, clothing and a small supply of provisions for the journey. I now sat on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Because my room was so far to the north of the house, where we kept the forbidden scrolls of our clan, and only the head of the clan, my father, and my brothers were allowed, it was completely void of any life. Nobody ever came to this side of the house, which was why I chose to have my room here – and also because I wouldn't have to sleep through the sound of women being abused and raped by other clan members and special clientele my father kept. Just thinking about it gave me shivers and made my blood boil.

It was my sixteenth birthday, and apparently my destiny was supposed to become clear to me. I didn't exactly feel any different, except for this strange tug in my gut. It compelled me to pack faster, rushing me along so we could leave sooner. Did I just refer to a feeling as though it were an entity? I wasn't quite sure why, but I followed it. But now, as it urged my body to leave this wet, weeping country and begin my journey, I resisted. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to complete my duty, or even if I could. I didn't want to kill someone to bring an eternal darkness. I didn't even like the dark, for one, I actually hated this power within me. It caused me to do terrible things when I wasn't in control of my emotions and hurt the people that were dear to me. I could feel it, even now, eating away at my body, cell by cell, trying to consume every little bit of my humanity until I was nothing but a lifeless, emotionless, killing machine. I held my hands in front of my face and noticed they were trembling. I clenched my fists, closing my eyes and inhaling and exhaling deeply.

After five minutes of this, to calm my nerves, I stood and picked up my brown hooded-cloak, holding it in one hand as I stood in front of the mirror. I wore black khakis tucked in to my shin length black open toed boots, a fitting grey singlet and a loose black shirt over that. My messy red hair, a mortifying trait I picked up from my mother, was naturally spiky, jutting out in every direction, though slightly falling in my eyes. My white eyes, devoid of any features, stood out against my olive-toned skin. The Byakugan – a bloodline limit that was thought to have only belonged to the Hyuga clan of Konoha. In the Hyuga clan they regarded it with so much respect, even going so far to have a Main family and a Branch family, branding the latter with curse marks so they could never betray the Main family and forcing them to know they're place. Every single member can use the Byakugan, I have heard. In my clan, however, those rare members who possess the Byakugan are banished and exiled, as it is seen as a symbol of the light. I never knew why it was so wrong to possess such powerful eyes. However my father, when I was born with these eyes, knew immediately that they were a blessing for me. He said they would help me bring about my fate. I had no clue what he meant, but now I think I have a sound understanding. My father never kept the dark secrets of the clans origins from me, in fact he made me study the ancient scrolls that were passed down from generation to generation. I just didn't realise that one day I'd be making those barely readable babblings come true.

I sighed, already frustrated with what the day would bring. Father said I was to follow my gut feeling, and that would take me to where I needed to go, but I didn't understand how a stupid intuition could do that. With what felt like daylight approaching and darkness fading, I slipped on my cloak and retrieved my knapsack and katana from the corner, slinging the bag over one shoulder and sliding the sword in to the holster at my side. Before I left I turned to see if I had forgotten anything and a glint on my dresser confirmed my suspicions. I picked up the tattered black forehead protector with the symbol of my mother's clan on it and tenderly placed inside my knapsack. I slid open my screen door, and slipped outside on to the porch. The rain trickled down gently, which I did not appreciate due to the fact that the air was humid and stuffy, and the heavy rain would have nullified that sense. My brother and father were already waiting for me on the east porch in the desolate courtyard, by the gates that protected and hid our compound from prying eyes.

My older brother, Takeshi, who was in line to be the next head of clan, nodded at my father when I approached. My brother was as equally menacing as my father, if not more. He was a cruel, merciless brute with a strong network of informers, most of them mercenaries and just plain evil people who wished for the world's demise as fiercely as my clan did, and was allied with many organizations trying to achieve this, such as the group Akatsuki and some other people who held power over dark techniques. He was always knew about, if not involved in, any attempts to destroy the world. I'm sure that if I wasn't able to complete my mission, my older brother would find another way to bring about his future. Takeshi grinned at me as though he could read my thoughts, a glint of insanity and bloodlust in his eyes.

"Ah, Kazuya, you are finally joining us. I hope you have packed sufficiently for your trip." My father said, arms crossed in front of him. It was uncommon for my father to leave his torture chamber for any reason, but I guess this destiny meant more to my father than I thought. I nodded feebly. Takeshi's presence unnerved me. His sadistic and gory past weren't foreign to me. Ridiculous things like having the same blood running through our veins, or having the same father, meant nothing to Takeshi. I was sure that if I didn't hold such an important role in his future, he would have killed me years ago. He told me so himself. He thinks of me as weak, and resents the fact that I was the one born with this destiny, not him. He doesn't think I can carry out this mission, and in truth, neither do I.

"From here on out, you will be on your own. All of these years of training have all been for this instant. Do not forget your duty, or stray from your path. Though I am quite sure the cursed hatred of your ancestors will lead you in the right direction. Now, go."

Without so much as a "Happy Birthday" even, I thought inwardly. I stepped down the steps, on to the soggy path that led to the gates. As I approached them, they creaked open. Beyond the gates was nothing but muddy rock paths and jagged hills, the slowest and most dangerous route out of our hidden community. To the left, was a deep chasm, a rough cut in the land like lightning had struck it repeatedly, that twisted and split into two directions. The chasm was filled with water, from years and years of endless tears falling from the heavens. If one were to follow one of the directions of the river, it would lead down to the main village, guarded by Pein and a Guardian Angel, also members of the Akatsuki, as I have heard my brother speak of them with the utmost admiration. The other direction, would lead me east towards the border of the Kusagakure, and from there I would be able to pass through the Village Hidden in the Grass and east into the Fire Country or north into Takigakure. I glanced back at my father and brother, unmoving, just watching me. I had no clue where to go from here. How was I to kill this person if I didn't even know where to begin? He could be all the way in the village of the Hidden Cloud for all I knew! I dreaded the trip, suddenly wanting to turn around and walk back through those gates. But I knew that wasn't an option. One, my father would probably imprison, or knowing Takeshi, kill me if I were to abandon this mission. And two, I was desperate to see more of the world, since I have never left this compound all my sixteen years of living. I wanted to know what the sky looked like, and feel the warmth of the sun on my face. I closed my eyes, and listened to my gut feeling. I felt a tugging sensation, like someone trying to drag me along, I just had to move my feet. I felt my foot take a step, splashing in a puddle, then another one, and another, and another, until I was heading in the direction of the ravine. For some reason, the tug was faintly getting stronger with every step I took, and soon I was following the river east towards Kusagakure. My journey had begun.

As soon as Kazuya was out of sight, following his destiny, the elder man turned to his oldest son. "Takeshi, I want you to follow him discreetly. Do not make your presence known, try to stay far enough behind him that he can't detect you with that disgraceful Byakugan of his, but close enough that you can interfere when needed. Make sure he carries out his duty at all cost."

The beastly man growled, humoured at his father's lack of faith and perpetual predictability. "Do you not trust that he can follow through with it? Even without those eyes, he holds immense power..."

"That may be true, but he lacks hatred now and follows that stupid path of peace. He was perfect as a child, full of so much loathing. Now he is weak, just like his mother. He can never kill anyone, but then again, they do say the curse has never failed to corrupt its host. He is the only one who can do it – extinguish the light decisively, so it is not able to return, so darkness can rule. If it were that easy we would have ended it years ago. Although, if he needs motivation... you know what to do."

The son chuckled at his father's evil ways as he melted in to the shadows, the sound still echoing eerily in the courtyard long after he had disappeared.

* * *

Tsunade heard a hasty knock on her door, and before she could answer, Shizune burst through the door. Her face was flushed red, and she was inhaling sharply, as though she had just run here. Tsunade didn't think much of it – Shizune was always overreacting – and continued filing through her pile of mission reports.

"Tsunade-sama! Please come quickly!" she huffed, trying to regain her breath. Tsunade merely glanced over at here, making no attempt at moving.

"Hmmm? What is it, Shizune? You _demanded _I do these reports, and now that I'm finally doing them you barge in_ demanding_ that I accompany you somewhere! Jeez Shizune, can the Hokage not get a break?!" Tsunade thumped her fist on the desk lightly, yet still causing a split in the wood. She sighed. "What is of such importance that it cannot wait until I am done?"

"A girl was found this morning in front of the hospital, in a wheelchair, completely paralysed from the neck down." Shizune started, wishing that the Hokage would be less carefree about dire situations. This raised Tsunade's curiousity, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Well, have you administered an antidote? I'm sure you are able to handle a simple anti-paralysis antidote, Shizune."

"We did immediately, but posion wasn't the cause. Or genjutsu. After running an examination, we found all of her chakra points are fried, the cause is unknown. She was found unconscious, and hasn't recovered yet. But that's not what is strange about her..." Shizune's voice became shaky, and she wasn't sure how to explain the next part. Tsunade, now listening intently, urged her to continue.

"It's her chakra, Lady Tsunade. Or rather, our chakra. We find ourselves losing chakra around her, and some are unable to conduct a full examination on her chakra because they have become weak very recently. And, after getting a member of the Hyuga clan in to use their Byakugan, they... they..."

Tsunade, growing impatient, thumped her fist once more, this time splitting the desk in half. "Spit it out, Shizune!" the Slug Princess ordered.

"They said that her body is overflowing with chakra, and for some reason it keeps on gaining chakra at an alarming rate. Her organs are beginning to fail and we have no solution at all. Please Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade leapt up and jumped out through her window, responding to Shizune's urgency with swift speed. She leapt over building, running on rooftops, until she reached Konoha's hospital. When she reached the administration, she didn't even pause, grabbing herself a surgery gown, and heading straight for ICU. She found the room almost immediately, due to the large amount of people standing outside of the door. Some nurses were holding up other exhausted nurses and leading them out of the room so they could sit on the chairs outside. When the crowd caught sight of the Hokage, they all cried out in relief, exclaiming that it was alright; Lady Tsunade's medical ninjutsu would save this nameless girl. Tsunade ordered for everyone who did not have enough chakra to continue to leave the room. She saw Hinata Hyuga, a skilled Byakugan user standing in the corner, unsure of what to do. In the centre of the room, lying propped up on a bed, with tubes running out of her nose and needles protruding out of her arms, was a girl. She was about average height and weight, although very wide, child-bearing hips, with raven hair that fell down in waves around her breasts, and pale skin. Her eyelashes were her most prominent feature; long and straight. She had delicate features and a slight hint of red to her cheeks. She had been stripped of her normal attire and now a white gown adorned her young body. Tsunade touched her arm, and was alarmed at how blistering hot her skin was, like fire burned under her skin, seeking a way out but finding none. But that wasn't what alarmed her the most. It was the fact that Tsunade could feel the pull of the girl's energy, like gravity, attracting her chakra, and gradually taking it as its own. Tsunade simply stared at the girl in amazement, before removing her hand as it was beginning to sear her flesh.

Hinata stood in her corner, twiddling with her thumbs, while she stared at the girl. It was strange, but she felt like she had seen the girl's face before – like her features were familiar. The girl appeared to only be about Hinata's age, maybe a little bit older from the look of her mature hips. Hinata feared for the stranger. When she activated her Byakugan it almost burned her eyes just looking at the girl. Her chakra was not normal at all. For one, it glowed brightly, like the sun resided within her body, all over, and pushed out from the centre of her body. Even stranger than that she could not sense any physical or spiritual energy. Just... pure energy. It pushed at her chakra points with such a force that, if not dealt with soon, would make her explode from the inside. Two, when she used her Byakugan to look at her organs on a microscopic level, she found that none of her chakra coils wove around her organs. That, in itself was completely abnormal. The last thing was that as she watched with her Byakugan, she could literally _see _chakra seeping up from the ground, filtering in through the open window, even see the chakra being sucked out of her own body and the bodies of those in the room, all gather around the girl's body, before her already overflowing body would slowly take it in. It scared her, to be quite honest. The girl didn't scare her, but what was happening to her did; the girl's body heat was on fire because she was in so much excruciating pain. This is what she revealed to Lady Tsunade when she asked Hinata to use her Byakugan to take note of the internal effects. Lady Tsunade stared at the girl in disbelief, a thousand questions running through her mind about the possibilities of this.

The machine next to the girl beeped slowly, indicating she was still alive, but for however much longer no one knew. Suddenly, the machine beeped faster and the girl's eyes fluttered open, scanning the room around her with quick, blue eyes. The girl's eyes settled on Hinata, widening when they saw her. She began to furiously cough, blood splattering all over her white gown.

Lady Tsunade went to her side, and spoke softly, softer than Hinata had ever heard her talk before. "Hello, my name is Tsunade. I am here to help you. Can you tell us your name?"

The girl stared up at Tsunade in what seemed like recognition, a trickle of blood coming from both corners of her mouth. Tsunade smiled – if the girl knew of her reputation, then she would be calm about the situation.

"Y-you... m-my chakra points... t-they are..." she started softly, her voice weak and barely audible. As she spoke, Tsunade watched in horror as blood began to steadily seep out of the corners of her eyes and nose. Although she had already gotten over her phobia, seeing this happen to this young girl made Tsunade feel terrified.

"We know, and we're doing the best we can to figure out why. Do you know anything about your situation?" Tsunade was sure to not touch her, but remained close because she could only just pick up what the girl was saying.

"I have to... to constantly release chakra. I-I need someone to... unblock m-my chakra points." She whispered, struggling to even make coherent sentences. Tsunade nodded. So this girl was just a body of what felt like pressurised chakra, if she didn't release her chakra soon... Tsunade could bet on what would happen, and even with all her bad luck she wouldn't lose. Then again, even if she did release it now, the strain alone could kill her, not to mention the possibility of her losing _all _of her chakra in the process, with death being the definite consequence. Or if it did work, maybe it would completely destroy her chakra points, resulting in the same situation all over again.

"We can't unblock your chakra points because they've been damaged too much. If we try to unblock them now, it may make all of your chakra pour out, and to lose all of your chakra will kill you."

"I-I think I-I can heal them... please... please just unblock my chakra points" the girl then let out a scream, as her pulse began to race and her heartbeat became erratic. Everyone around her began to go in to a frenzy, not knowing how to stop this girl's pain, or even what was wrong with her. Hinata's eyes widened as she witnesses the girl's chakra begin to take on an even more freakish glow than before.

"Lady Tsunade, what do we do?!" everyone seemed to beg, looking towards their Hokage for guidance. She was completely lost, and hung her head in shame. To try and fix her chakra points now would be useless and would only prolong the girl's death, is what she told everyone. Hinata's eyes became teary as everyone in the room became silent; the only sound in the room was the sound of the nameless girl's screams as they intensified. Hinata clenched her fists, desperate to do something, _anything_, to help the girl. She thought about what the girl said; _"I have to constantly release chakra. I need someone to unblock my chakra points." _

It was a risk, and could have huge consequences on the girl's body, but Hinata had to do something. She stepped forwards, urging her body closer to the girl's. Everyone in the room had given up, and accepted the girl's fate. But not Hinata. She activated her Byakugan, and began to filter chakra in to her palms, employing the Gentle Fist style. She had never done it with the opponent lying down, but she made tried her hardest. The familiar taijitu symbol, that only Hinata could see, appeared, and she started her attack on the girl's chakra points.

"Gentle Fist 8 Trigrams 32 Palms!"

"8 Trigrams 2 palms!" Hinata hit various chakra points with her chakra-infused hands. Everyone in the room turned towards Hinata and the girl in the centre.

"4 palms!"

"8 palms!"

"16 palms!"

"32 palms!"

With the last hit, Hinata forced open the damaged chakra points all at once. With her Byakugan still activated, she saw the chakra thrust its way to the surface with a frightening energy, and before she or anybody could react, there was a flash of brilliant radiance, and the energy burst outwards like an explosion, blinding and burning those closest to the girl, including Hinata. It was enough to blast everything in the room away, including the four walls and the floor and ceiling. Shattered glass and rubble covered everywhere. The ceiling began to cave in the small room, and the floor had split open, creating fissures in the dirt beneath it. It was a miracle that they were on the first level, or whoever was underneath them would have been crushed, and she could only hope the rooms surrounding the blast were unoccupied. Tsunade, having shielded herself, Hinata, Shizune and a few others from the worst of it, held up the ceiling with her mighty strength long enough until some members of ANBU used earth style to relieve her. Tsunade brushed the dust off her and gazed around the room in alarm and admiration. The air felt static, and made every hair on her body stand on its end. She pushed debris out of the way and made her way closer to where the girl was. Such chakra... it was unnatural. The list of questions for the girl was piling up in her mind with every step she took towards the bed. A part of the ceiling covered it, and perhaps the girl had been crushed, Tsunade thought, if that sudden explosion wasn't enough to kill her. She lifted the rubble and pushed it away, then gasped; blinking furiously to make sure what she was seeing was real. The bed was completely empty, and even more suspicious than that, looked fine for most part. The legs had been blown off, but the base and the thin mattress were both still in near pristine condition, just scorched around the edges. Tsunade glanced around, searching for any signs of the girl's body or at least, what remained of it, but found none.

"Fifth Hokage?" someone cleared their throat behind her. It was Kakashi, the copy-ninja, who had just arrived at the scene with Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno in tow. They stared at the disaster around them, completely at loss of words. Naruto caught glimpse of Hinata half-buried in wreckage, and rushed to her side. He hauled Hinata out of the mess and Sakura began to work on her injuries right away. Hinata, apparently still conscious despite probably taking most of the force, pushed away Sakura's hand, kindly telling her to attend to Shizune-sama first, and struggled to get to her feet. Her clothing was tattered and singed, and any exposed skin, particularly on her face, neck and hands had been burned to the point where even wincing made Hinata's entire body shudder with agonizing pain. She would have collapsed to her feet if Naruto hadn't been supporting her body with the utmost care.

"Hinata you must rest, your body has taken a lot of damage and you suffer from severe burns." Sakura said to the heiress. Hinata, eyes still burning from the blinding flash of light, tried to focus her vision on the Hokage, who was still in disbelief about what had just happened.

"Lady Tsunade?" Hinata uttered, using the last of her strength.

"Please Hinata, don't speak. You're only hurting yourself. Don't worry, we will find whoever did this to you and Shizune and I'll smash them to pieces! You just leave it up to me!" Naruto exclaimed with his famous enthusiasm. Hinata smiled and blushed – his face was so close to hers. Close enough that she could feel his breath on her burnt cheek. It was refreshingly cool.

"No, Naruto. This was not caused by any enemies. The cause of this was a strange girl, only about fifteen or sixteen years old." Tsunade shook her head in astonishment, touching the painful burns on her cheeks. The blast had the power of a hundred explosive tags, and even Tsunade wasn't able to combat all of the force. Naruto stared at the wreckage around him, at the severity of Hinata's burns and even at Granny Tsunade's raw skin on her cheeks in surprise. _A girl about the same age as his had done this? _It was unbelievable. Apparently Kakashi thought the same, from the visibly stunned expression on his usually carefree, covered face.

"We... we must find her, Hokage-sama. If we're suffering from this extent of burns, who knows what that girl could be suffering from!" Hinata coughed, a trail of blood escaping from the corner of her mouth. She was quickly losing consciousness.

"Hinata! Hinata! Please stay with us!" Naruto shouted, trying to shake her back to consciousness. Hinata gazed up at Naruto's sparkling blue eyes, thinking about how wonderfully gorgeous they were up close. She could see herself in his reflection, bloody and battered, and wondered if this was how Naruto saw her too. If so, she was absolutely mortified. She could feel her consciousness slipping away now; being drained from her body as though someone had pulled the plug on her tub full of life. But before she faded away into the unknown, she needed to make sure of something.

"P-Please Naruto... please find this girl and make sure she is alright." She breathed heavily, watching Naruto's lips move because all she could hear was a ringing in her ears. She thought about how blissful it would be to kiss those lips, and smiled, not even knowing his answer, but content any way. She was sure she knew the answer anyway, knowing him...

"I will, I promise." Naruto whispered. For some reason, just seeing her so damaged and hurt made him angry, and although he wanted to find whoever did this and make them pay, he also wanted to make Hinata happy. He vowed he would find this girl and confront her, after he had made sure she was safe. He lifted her up, cradling her in his arms, and carried her over to where Sakura was healing Shizune.

"Tsunade-sama, where did the girl go? You said she was here just a moment ago." Kakashi asked and raising an eyebrow as there was no obvious figure of a young girl in the rubble except for Hinata. He doubted that anyone, except their Hokage of course, could withstand a blast like that and just walk away afterwards. He had heard the explosion on the other side of town.

"To tell you the truth, I have no clue. She didn't have a name, or would tell us one anyway. She could barely speak, so I guess that's why. But she was found this morning in a wheelchair outside the hospital, nobody accompanying her, paralysed from the neck down. They called Hinata, I assume because of the fact that Neji is on a mission, and Hiashi obviously won't come to the aid of a stranger, especially when he hears that this certain stranger is slowly draining the chakra of the people around her for too long. But of course Hinata would, because that's just Hinata." Tsunade grinned – she honestly thought the girl was weak, but hitting all of the girl's chakra points like that and opening them all at once? It was amazing to watch the Hyuga Heiress. Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi thought that perhaps the Fifth Hokage was going crazy, grinning in a time like this.

"Hinata told me that the girl was very, very abnormal. No chakra coils around the organs, and she sensed no physical or spiritual energy necessary to mould chakra. She explained it like... a sun. A glowing energy that absorbed the energy of everything around it, like absorbing natural energy and having it as a life force. Even I could feel it sucking up my chakra. The reason she was paralysed was because all of her 361 chakra points had been damaged severely, and because she had not been treated earlier," Tsunade scolded herself mentally; she would blame herself entirely if the girl had died. "To try and heal them, while she's draining me of my chakra, would be dangerous for both of us. I imagine she must have been in unbearable pain, but she told us that she needed someone to open her chakra points. I don't have that ability, but even if I did, it would have risks on both parties. Especially with that amount of pent up chakra... Well, Hinata took this risk and managed to open all of the chakra points, and..." Tsunade waved to the scene before them. Nurses rushed in, helping ANBU to retrieve casualties and put them on stretchers to be carried to their own examination room. The walls were on the verge of collapsing, but from the steady sound of moaning coming from those being recovered, nobody was fatally injured. She was glad, but the disappearance of the raven haired girl completely mystified her, and again, she was lost for words or actions.

"Then where is she now, Granny?! We need to find her!" Naruto clenched his fists at Tsunade, and she could see that flair of determination once again. But she didn't even know where to begin.

"I don't know Naruto. Every single thing about this is just bizarre. Maybe some things are better left in the dark..." Tsunade trailed off, thinking about how the girl _stole _her chakra so easily. And that bright sun that Hinata referred to... Tsunade might consult the ancient scrolls for answers. Naruto was about to say something daring, and Sakura would be there to gladly smack him in the head when he did, when Tsunade spoke, this time her voice full of optimism.

"I do know this – it's not the last we've seen of her."

Tsunade, for the second time in one day, bet on her words, bet on that girl surprising her. And she was sure she would win. Maybe her luck was changing.

* * *

**I loved writing this chapter. And it's so long :D I think I might just write longer chapters, so expect less frequent updates. Unlessss, someone begs me to update faster, then I might actually be motivated to. Reviews? **


	6. Chapter Five

**The Day Before...**

"It's been about two and a half years..."

"Indeed."

I walked through the massive gates with my master. But as soon as I stepped through them, my steps hastened, until I was running. I dropped my knapsack on the ground, thudding loudly, and leapt in to the air, feet landing firmly on a tank about twenty metres above. It gave me a perfect view of the whole of Konoha, from the gates all the way to the rocky cliff with our Hokage's faces carved in to it.

"Alright!" I exclaimed, stretching my arms out like I was trying to embrace my village. In my time away with Pervy Sage I had grown quite a bit. I felt different – not just taller, but stronger, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. I was determined more than ever to bring Sasuke back. This wasn't the only change though – while away I had completely destroyed my trademark orange and blue outfit, to the point where it wasn't even clothing, just ripped material. I had swapped this for a new orange and black track suit, one that was more form fitting and didn't get so hot. Even though I had changed a lot, my village didn't look like it had at all, and I was glad for that.

"I missed this place! It hasn't changed one bit!"

But even as I said this I noticed the new addition to the cliff side. It was a more feminine face that the rest and had a recognizable diamond shaped crest on the faces forehead.

"Eh?! So they've added Tsunade's ugly old mug to mountain! Ha!" I laughed, but on the inside I was beginning to dream about when I would finally have my face carved eternally in stone. Hokage was still a long way away, and I had to focus on more pressing matters, like dragging Sasuke's sorry ass home.

"You've grown a lot, haven't you Naruto." A deep, familiar voice said from behind me. I turned around, and saw Kakashi-Sensei sitting on a roof. He still looked the same as always; silvery hair sticking up everywhere, face covered except for his right eye, and wearing typical shinobi attire. He had his Icha Icha book in one hand and looked as though he were in the middle of reading it. Yup, nothing had changed at all.

"Yo!" he stuck his hand up in a sort of salute.

"Kakashi-sensei! You haven't changed at all!" I greeted him with much enthusiasm, but it was weird to have him tell me that I've grown a lot, even if I knew it myself. I jumped and landed next to him. I suddenly remembered something.

"Wait! Oh yeah! Hey! Hey! I have a present for you Kakashi-sensei!" I reached in to my pouch, and saw my sensei look at me curiously. I pulled out a book, and his eyes widened.

"Whaaat?! You... H-How... Th... This is..."

"This is the latest in the Icha Icha series after three years. It's really boring but you'll still like it, I think!" I grinned at my sensei, and he took the book and turned it over in his hands slowly, then grinned at me.

"Thanks Naruto!"

"No problem!" I leapt off the side of the building, sensei close behind me. Now that I was finally back in Konoha, it was time for the ultimate homecoming gift!

"Right! Next stop, straight to Ichiraku ramen!" I took off, leaving Jiraiya and Kakashi in the dust behind me, as I ran in the direction of the ramen shop. I stopped suddenly, seeing two figures in front of me. One belonged to an older woman with two blonde pony tails hanging down her back, while the other was a smaller, slimmer frame with a head of short, pink hair. The girl turned around, staring at me curiously.

"Sa... Sakura-chan?" I said, surprised at seeing her already. She tipped her head to one side, taking in my outfit, and then my face, recognition hitting her.

"Eh? Naruto?" She pointed at me, voice full of scepticism. She gave me a strange look that I didn't understand. "How do I look? Do I look more like a woman now?"

She seemed taller. She had begun to fill out around her hips, and a little around her chest, I noticed before quickly averting my eyes. I respected Sakura-chan way too much to look at her like _that_. She had changed, I could tell, but not all that much physically. I gave her my famous, flashy grin.

"You look fine! You haven't changed at all!" I heard Kakashi sigh when I said this and Sakura's cute pout turned in to a flaming scorn for a second. Then she glanced up at me, a look of shock on her face.

"You've... You've gotten taller than me?!" Disbelief coated her tone. I glanced at my body then at her, raising my hand to compare our heights. I was a few inches taller than her.

"Oh yeah, I guess I have!" I beamed; maybe Sakura-chan would acknowledge my feelings for her and go on a proper date with me. But I knew this would never happen – she was too caught up in her own feelings for Sasuke.

"Naruto niichan!"A nasally voice called out to me. I followed the source of the sound, and found a naked, dark-haired woman posing very scandalously, wisps of smoke covering the most private areas. Pervy Sages eyes almost popped out of his skull. With a poof, the jutsu disappeared.

Konohamaru stood in front of me and a very disappointed Jiraiya, holding his thumb up enthusiastically. "How was that? A real drool of a jutsu, wasn't it?!"

I sniggered, shaking my head at how much he had grown. "Konohamaru, I'm sorry but I'm not a kid anymore. From now on, you shouldn't use that jutsu either." My tone was serious, and from the look on Konohamaru's face, he was taken aback by my words. Everyone was silent around me for a moment.

"Such jutsu is now mediocre, Konohamaru! Behold! The new perverted ninjutsu I've been developing! Here we go!" I was about to show off my new ninjutsu, when Sakura-chan screamed that I was an idiot and before I could react, I was being hurled to the ground. In a daze, she grabbed me by my collar and shook me.

"I was wrong! You haven't changed one bit! I haven't seen you for two years and within two minutes you jump straight into that?! What about that wonderful feeling of respect I had for you just now?! As if I could feel sad that I wasn't grown up like you!"

I was still dazed and confused by all this, but grinned anyway. I was home.

"Hey, hey, Sakura, calm down. Konohamaru here's terrified." Kakashi said, revealing the cowering boy behind him.

"Right... the nostalgia ends here though. Kakashi." Lady Tsunade turned to our sensei. Sakura stopped throttling me, and we both turned to gawk at the copy-ninja.

"From now on, the two of you will come with me on team-related missions. It's different than before. It's no longer teacher and pupil. Starting today, we're equal Konoha shinobi," he held out his hand, turning it over to us, and we caught sight of the all-too familiar bells. "Well, first I'm a bit curious as to how you've developed. The rules are the same as when I first met you two. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you will never succeed in getting the bells!"

We grinned at our former teacher. I was keen to show off my progress, and because I wasn't able to get a bell the first time, I was even more determined than ever. Konohamaru ran off yelling that he was going to let everyone know that the hero of our village had returned. Pervy Sage and Granny Tsunade waved us goodbye, saying they had important business to discuss, and headed in the direction of her office. Kakashi began to make his way to the training ground, us in tow.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cloaked figure standing in the shadows of the trees. I turned my head to focus on the curious figure, but it had disappeared. I glanced around; sure that someone had just been standing there a second ago.

"Naruto! Hurry up!" Sakura-chan called out to me. I scratched my head, still feeling as though I were being watched, but shrugged it off as nothing and ran after Kakashi and Sakura-chan.

* * *

**Present**

A cool, damp feeling on my forehead caused me to stir awake. My head throbbed painfully, and my entire body felt as though it were on fire. But at least I could feel pain – that was a good sign. My eyes felt like someone had held them over a pit of boiling lava, but regardless I willed them open. My vision was clouded, but I could just faintly see someone standing over me. My eyes adjusted to the dark room, and Uncle Itachi was leaning over me, dampening my forehead with a wet cloth. I couldn't remember how I had gotten there, or who had brought me to this unidentifiable place. The last thing I remembered was a bright, dazzling light and a burning sensation, like a hundred suns had exploded all over my skin. I could recall a girl with pale eyes, slight hints of lavender glinting off them, and a blonde, top-heavy woman talking to me and asking me questions. Her name was Tsunade. The raven-haired girl named Hinata was hitting me with her palms, but I felt no pain. After that it was just a blur.

I opened my mouth to speak but Uncle shook his head, wiping the gleam of constant sweat from my forehead.

"Don't speak just yet please Emiko. You were badly burnt all over your body, I managed to deflect most of the damage, but you still need to give yourself time to heal."

This room was different to where we had stayed before. There was no natural light filtering in the room, and the only source of light was from a small, flickering candle in the corner of the room. It smelt musty, like it hadn't been used in years. A dresser stood in the corner, a mirror hung above it. On the dressers were various items; a comb, a kunai holster, a blue forehead protector with the same symbol that the girl named Hinata wore engraved on it, the material old and torn, and a few photo frames. The first was a picture of a very young boy and what I assumed was his father. The next was the same boy, about ten years older, standing with another boy who looked a few years younger than the older boy. Their arms were slung together over their shoulders and they beamed at the camera. The next was of the same boy, but this time he looked as though he were about my age, standing close next to a woman with beautiful golden hair who looked very tired but smiled anyway, holding a slightly bloody infant who he stared at with utmost adoration. I gasped quietly, realizing that the boy in the photos was my father, and the last photo was him and my mother at my birth. Itachi glanced in the direction I was gazing at, and seeing the pictures, he smiled at me, his face morphing into that of the young boy with my father. I realized the boy in the second frame was him and my father.

I sat up a little, and reached for the glass of water on the bedside table. Uncle placed the cloth back in a bowl full of water on the bedside table. The sleeve of his cloak rid up, and I caught sight of burns covering his arms and hands. I reached out and gripped his hand gently when he tried to pull his sleeves down more. I felt horrible. Uncle had rescued me from the blast, but had suffered from what looked like major burns, at my expense. Not only that, but this whole situation was my fault. If I hadn't been so reckless and disobeyed uncle by stealing that jutsu, I wouldn't have done this to my body and we would be on our way to wherever uncle had intended for us to go.

"Please... please uncle, l-let me heal you." My voice was shaky as I gripped his sleeve tighter. He placed his hand on top of mine, clutching it loosely. I stared up at my uncle. His pale face gave away the fact that he was tired and exhausted, and his bloodshot eyes looked as though he hadn't slept in days, which he probably hadn't. Although he wasn't related to my father by blood, he still reminded me a lot of him. He had raised me from the day my mother died, and guarded me with his life when people came looking for my deceased mother and I. The only family I had left, the only person in this world who I could trust and rely on, the only person who actually _knew_ of my existence, was standing before me. If he were to... because of me... I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I would be all alone in a world where I knew no one.

A single tear slid down my cheek, before falling on to uncle's hand. His gaze softened and he squeezed my hand softly, before nodding at me and sitting in the chair next to my bed. I placed my other hand on top of his. I smiled faintly and closed my eyes, breathing slowly. Inhale, exhale. Concentrating on the pull of the energy was a simple task, like blinking, because it was all I knew, all I felt for as long as I can remember. I understood what uncle had meant when he told me about the true nature of my body. It was like... I had this gravity inside my gut, and now I knew it was because energy was naturally drawn to me, as a moth is drawn to light. By siphoning the energy around me, I was able to filter it through his chakra points. I focused all of my chakra into the palm of my right hand, the hand that was on top of uncle's cold one. I released natural energy back into uncle Itachi's form, giving more chakra to his organs, and replenishing his health slowly. It was a steady process but necessary for the body to heal completely, cell by cell. If this was all I could do to repay uncle for the countless times he protected me and took care of me then I would do it all a thousand times more and still be smiling. He even aligned with the Akatsuki to protect me from them – so they would never know about the daughter of the great Shisui Uchiha, and whatever Kekkei tōta mother's lineage possessed. It tired me greatly, but it was worth it. Just to see my uncle survive, and not leave my side, was all I could wish for. My hands trembled gently. The room was completely silent, and I suspected it was probably night time by now.

"Uncle, will you tell me a story? It would help me stay alert and pass the time. Your burns are serious, and will probably take a while to heal."

Uncle smiled at me. He hadn't known my mother for long, but my favourite stories were the ones that mother told about her and father and their adventures together, and uncle had heard them many times before she died and knew them as well as I did.

"Well, let's start with the one about the boy with the special eyes, the golden girl and destiny..."

I smiled – this was my most favourite, and saddest story.

"_One day, there was a boy who was sent to deliver an important letter from the Hokage to the Raikage in the Land of Lightning. It was a treaty declaring a truce, due to the unimaginable number of shinobi lost during the third great shinobi war. This boy was only twelve years old, yet he was already taking part in S and B-rank missions, and graduated top of his year at the Academy. He was a skilled user of the sharingan, and not one to be underestimated. Anyone who had the pleasure of witnessing him at work knew this. While on his travels, he happened to stop by a river to refill his canteen. He heard a lot of commotion going on around the corner, and being the curious boy he was, he peeped around the corner to see what was causing all the noise. What he saw was horrible. It was a family and their travelling home – a big, spacious hut on wheels. It was decorated brightly – painted a vivid yellow and covered in banners and glittering crystals. He silently moved closer, hiding behind trees to get a better view. They were all clustered on the ground, huddled together closely. A woman, her older son who appeared to be a good few years older than the boy, and a young girl about the same age as him, who all looked upon what was unfolding in front of them helplessly. They all wore long white robes, with a pale yellow sun on the back. Another small huddle of about four men were shouting aggressively, crowded in a circle around a thrashing figure. They were kicking and beating the form on the ground, and when they dispersed he saw it was a man around the same age as that boy's father. The young boy was completely enraged with anger, but contained himself – a good shinobi was one who endures, is what he told himself, though how difficult, he must be patient and not compromise his location. Although he couldn't see their faces as they were covered by plain black masks, the menacing look in the eyes of the four shinobi – he had seen that look many times. They intended to kill the family. For what purpose, was unknown to him in that instance. He inched even closer, until he was just beside the campsite. The family were right in front of him, and the other group were on the far side. The man's flowing white robes were stained with blood, and he writhed in pain on the ground, before shakily getting to his feet. The man began to make the seals for a jutsu, but was swiftly interrupted with a blow to the stomach by one of the bandits, and dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach. He called out to his family, who looked up with teary eyes, saying that everything would be alright. The man met the boy's eyes and he shook his head when the hidden ninja tried to advance, nevertheless smiled brightly. One, who appeared to be the leader, stepped closer behind the kneeling man, and yanked something from his hip pouch. It was a kunai. Before anybody could react, he stood directly behind the father and slashed across his neck in one sharp motion. His wife and daughter screamed at him to stop, but it was too late. The son, shaking with rage, charged at the men, tugging at something concealed within his robes. He withdrew a long katana, and bravely slashed at the men surrounding his father, causing them to disperse. One of the men engaged in a sword fight with the boy, who was quite adept in his swordsmanship, and very quick on his feet. He slashed and swerved and countered every strike, but the hidden boy knew that he would not be able to keep up the rouse for much longer. He would have to intervene now, before it was too late. _

_He activated his special eye, and seeing the temporary distraction as a good diversion, seized his opportunity. He rushed out of the bushes at the nearest bandit, who was approaching the sobbing, broken family. With great speed the boy leapt over the golden heads of the older woman and her near identical daughter, and then sliced at the advancing killer before the crook could fully grasp the situation. He quickly fell to his knees. The young girl glanced at their saviour with a newfound hope, and upon finding child, lost that hope instantly. She did not know who this boy was, but taking on a small band of felons was not possible for him, considering their skill and his lack of... brawn. But the boy did not stop with the one bandit. The other two who had seen his surprise attack began advancing towards the family from different directions, assuming that he would not be able to counter both of them. They threw a hail of kunai from opposite directions, aimed at the vulnerable woman and daughter. The young boy's hands moved at an incomprehensible speed, and it was like he completely vanished. For the daughter, the life-threatening situation caused time to move slowly for her, as though the entire world had stopped spinning at its usual rate and was only gradually relaying present events millisecond by millisecond. Typical of the young boy to flee, she thought, and she didn't blame him. Nobody would help a family of strangers if it meant they're life. Nobody was that selfless, or that stupid. The girl's bright blue eyes widened as the kunai floated through the air, inching closer and closer. She closed her eyes, ready to meet her end. She was only eleven, but would gladly die to protect her family's secrets, which was what the men were after. She heard a sound like lightning striking metal a hundred times all at once. She opened her eyes and found she was still alive, and could feel no pain whatsoever. Time had gained its proper bearings. The volley of kunai had been deflected, and the boy stood in his exact spot he was in a moment ago, kunai in hand and crouched low, head down. The two shinobi stared at the boy in amazement, and the boy looked up with his remarkable eyes so the two could get a glimpse of their demise. Seeing the sharingan, they gasped, and the boy smirked, shifting his weigh to his right leg. The girl blinked and the boy disappeared from sight in a puff of smoke. The two men glanced around, a terrified look on their masked faces. The girl shook her head in disbelief – how could he vanish without a trace? And then she saw him. The boy poked the tip of his kunai in to the base of the bandit's skull, holding his two kunai on an angle so they could reach the back of the men's neck. The girl gazed at him in awe, and in her mind took back all the doubt she had held for him._

_At that moment she heard a piercing cry of pain, and saw her brother fall to the ground, a kunai sticking from his chest. She screamed his name over and over again, and her mother had to restrain her from running to his unmoving body. The young boy, also having seen this, swiftly used the butt of his kunai to hit a pressure point on each of their necks, causing them to collapse to the ground, unconscious for the moment, but alive. The shinobi who had killed the older boy simply laughed cruelly, and kicked the motionless boy. The leader who had killed the father strolled over to his partner. The saviour remained close to the woman and her daughter, protecting them and shielding them from whatever would come next. He waited. _

_Without warning, the leader hastily made hand seals for a jutsu. He smacked his palm on the earth, and suddenly razor-sharp spikes stuck out from the ground like tombstones anticipating death. The boy, expecting his elemental attack, quickly took hold of the woman and her daughter's robes, and yanked them to safety, a tall tree that obscured them from view. He left them there with specific instructions – stay put so he could finish this quickly. He rushed out to engage the two shinobi in combat, but they were gone. He glanced around with his sharingan, but found no one. Suddenly, a shattering scream echoed through the air. The boy's form flickered and he was suddenly where he had left the two. The shinobi were standing over a body, and the screams were coming from the girl who kneeled next to her bleeding mother. The boy cursed himself for leaving them alone. The evil men hadn't noticed his presence yet and one had his hand raised, yielding a kunai, ready to strike the hysterical girl. In two rapid movements, they fell to the ground; they're body still twitching from the electric current he had applied to the bloody blade just seconds before he ended their life. It was a quick and near painless death, much more than they ever deserved. The small girl shook with sobs; her whole body trembled with fear of what would have happened if the boy had appeared a second later, and anger that he hadn't been there sooner to save the life of her mother. The boy went to the girl and gently lifted her into his arms. He completely blamed himself for what had happened to her family. If he had only been stronger, if he had only been there sooner, he would have been able to save everyone. He vowed right then and there, while cradling her shivering body against his that he would do whatever it took to save her, to keep her safe. Even if it meant giving up his life for her, he would gladly do so. He figured that whatever this girl and her family possessed was very important, and most likely very powerful. He didn't know why he felt so bizarrely compelled to keep this unspoken promise. Maybe it was because of her circumstances, but he felt it was much more than that. He felt like it was destiny in the making. He wanted to take her away from the horrific scene, and she insisted that he do so. They stopped by her home and she revealed to him the secret compartment in their home that they would have died protecting. Inside was a medium-sized chest, secured by a combination lock. She shoved the chest in a large knapsack, along with some keepsake items. They heard a cackle behind them, and abruptly they were seized in a stone room with smooth walls. Because there was no difference in their masks, he had stupidly assumed that the two who had killed the girl's mother were the leader and his closest partner, but it wasn't. The other two shinobi were just a decoy, to get the young pair to drop their guard and expose the location of what they had been pursuing. That's why they hadn't killed the girl instantly – she was the only person now who knew how to access the wooden box of secrets. The devious men licked their lips in impatience. Now was the time to act. _

_The leader made his jutsu seals and the pen began to tighten, the walls and ceiling coming together to become one again, and they wouldn't stop for the likes of two helpless children. Then the walls suddenly exploded with a bright flash. The boy stood with the girl behind him, his hand glowing with electrical energy. The boy stepped forward, just as another wall shot up from the ground and divided him from the girl he sought to guard with his life, stretching around and over his head, further than he could see. It was a giant, thick, rock enclosure around the girl. The partner created seals quickly before the boy had time to react; he had deactivated his sharingan, meaning he probably ran out of chakra with that last defence. He finally showing his ninjutsu – the ground beneath the boy turned to sludge around him and he was swallowed up by the water-injected dirt that would suck away his chakra if he tried any jutsu. It would be impossible for a mere child, even a formidable enemy who proves the greatness of the Uchiha clan, but still a mere child, to escape from this situation. They grinned menacingly – they had fallen right into their trap. By separating the two they could easily incapacitated this threat, snatch up the girl and leave the boy wondering endlessly what had befallen the unfortunate. The girl on the other side of the thick wall was afraid. She didn't want to be apart from the boy whose name she had hadn't even learnt yet. Her mother had died believing that her only daughter, last surviving member of their legacy, would live on and be protected by a boy with special eyes. This is what was predicted, what was foretold for the future. It was unbearable for her, but she also had to think about the treasures she gripped tightly in her left hand. The girl stepped back from the wall and placed her knapsack on the ground by her feet, hidden within her robes. She made the seals for the one jutsu she knew – a very dangerous ninjutsu not to be underestimated, yet took great toll on the user. Her clan's unimaginable kinjutsu was what had led it to its destruction. Not from other clans, or other nations were they to discover the power of their sacred jutsu, but because no others knew except one clan. And that clan craved their extermination. It was always men that wore black masks and black attire, as though they were shadows. One by one, her clan had been picked off, like fleas that were an annoyance to the coat of their very existence. They were merciless, and that was apparent. She had to do all she could to protect her treasures – and more importantly – the boy who needed her right now, as much as she needed him. She held her hand out to the sky as she used the energy absorbing jutsu that would draw out any light and focus it at her fingertips. When it formed a flaming, blinding ball she focused it to the shape of a narrow blade and pushed it outwards, in the direction of the wall that separated her from destiny. The jutsu blistered her fingers and blinded her eyes and the sheer force of the impact was enough to blast her and the treasures through the air, but surprisingly enough the rest of her body hadn't been badly scorched as much as her fingers. She prayed with all her heart that she hadn't hurt the nameless hope. But it was the complete opposite. She had created a massive fissure in the vast wall, and slowly but surely, it began to crumble; pieces of the divider falling like oversized, gravel snowflakes as if it were winter. _

_The boy, who had been struggling against darkness, trying to find a grip on anything but never reaching one, who had held his breath but couldn't stop the sludge from entering his nose and every other place in his body and weighing him down even further to the bottom, if there even were an end to this unfathomable dread, felt the mud above him heat rapidly, then solidify. This was good, believe it or not; if something is frozen, then it can be shattered. The clay around him was hardened but still soft enough for him to move his arms to a point where he could control his movement, and he pushed his self, swimming upwards against the toughened mud. When he felt the hard rock, he pulled back his hand and applied chakra to it quickly, before the sludge could suck away his chakra, and thrust his curled fist out, hitting the tough clay with his chakra-concentrated hand with a deafening thump, causing a slight tremor around him. Upon impact, the mud above him cracked and was crushed in to smooth powder, making it effortless for him to claw his way up through the sea of soil. As he tunnelled his way up the soil caved in on him, pushing him down and forcing him back into the dark abyss. He fought against it viciously, all the time wondering what had caused the ground to harden to distract him from his waning consciousness. He finally resurfaced and gasped for air, taking in as much as he could to refill his sparse lungs. He shook the dirt from his hair and rubbed his eyes, then let his vision adjust to his surroundings. He was shocked at the state of the area. Small fissures and crevices engraved the land around him, but where, he assumed, he had just been standing, was a long split in the earth, like someone had sliced it with a giant blade. It was obviously the place of impact; he could tell by the debris scattered away from it. He looked around, searching for the girl, or any sign of existence. He saw the two men – they were unmoving, blood escaping from their nose, a telltale sign of serious internal injury. If they were the ones affected by it, then the girl... He heard whimpering coming from behind him. He turned and found the girl among the rubble, one hand clutching her knapsack weakly. He flashed to her side, and then tenderly scooped her up in his arms. She whined softly because of the pain it caused, but when she opened her eyes and met the boys sparkling eyes, she could have almost cried out in joy. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. He smiled, glad that she was safe and almost unharmed. _

"_I am going to protect you from now on, okay? Or at least until you're old enough to look after yourself. I'm sorry about your family." He said the last part slowly and quietly, not wanting to upset her. He waited for her reply, and was amazed at the silky, tinkling melody that protruded from her lips when she spoke. _

"_I-It's okay. My family sacrificed their lives to protect our secrets. They did so with pride and honour," the girl's eyes became teary as he carried her away from the damage, and low sobs escaped from her mouth against her will. It was hard. She had known this day would come – it was prophesized – but she hadn't expected it so soon. To lose everything in the space of a few hours... it would be inhuman if she just shrugged it off as nothing, or pretended like she couldn't care less, when really her entire world seemed as though it were crumbling around her. Her only hope, the only person she could trust now, she glanced at the boy through her hazy bright eyes, was this boy. She thought of his family and what they would be like._

"_It was actually predicted that my family would die and I would be the only survivor, and that a boy with special eyes would save me. I guess that's you. Would your family be alright with this?" she was anxious for the future. A million questions begged to be asked. _

_The boy smiled, a little curious about what she had just said. He had felt like it was fate, and apparently, it was. "That won't be a problem. I don't have a family. My mother died giving birth to me, and my father was killed in action." _

_She was silent – so he was alone. Just like she was now - with no one to love her and watch her grow up. But rather, he had been on his own much longer than she, from the casual way it rolled off his tongue; like a statement, a matter of fact, not an emotionally scarring time in his short life on this world. _

"_My name is Akemi Hikari." _

"_Nice to meet you, Akemi. My name is Shisui Uchiha."_

_Both grinned at each other. It was their first formal introduction, but they felt like they were already friends. With every step towards the unknown, they were distancing themselves physically and mentally from the horrific events that had transpired on that bizarre, fateful day._

* * *

The sun had already set over the horizon on my second day back in Konoha when I left Hinata's side, unwillingly, but the nurses, and even Sakura-chan, insisted that she was fine and wouldn't be waking up until the morning. Her father had come by after the explosion, along with many countless citizens and curious shinobi like Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei, but I'm sure they were just on a date and wanted to make it look like they hadn't stumbled upon the scene by accident. Her father scowled at me when he saw his unconscious daughter in my arms, carrying her to the examination room for a busy Sakura-chan. Actually, his eyes more or less popped out of his skull. And then he accused me of causing the explosion and hurting his daughter. I clenched my fists as rage swelled in my chest and ground my teeth to counter it. I gripped my stomach, my fingers digging into the skin beneath my sweatshirt. Something rumbled beneath my hand, like the beast was stirring. I know I have the Kyuubi sealed inside of me, but that didn't mean that he had to treat me like I was nothing but a monster! The villagers... not all of them had acknowledged me yet. I would change that, and everyone would see me as Naruto Uzumaki, not that-kid-with-the-demon-fox. But first, before I could accomplish my dreams of becoming Hokage, I had to bring back Sasuke. Only then, would I even be close to achieving my goal. I grinned, reverting back to my normal self.

The night was warm, so warm that I felt the need to remove my jacket. I pulled at the crystal necklace out from under my black shirt. It was weird, but ever since I had arrived at the explosion, just as Sakura-chan and I finished the bell training with Kakashi-sensei, I had felt this weird feeling in my stomach. Like the Nine Tails wouldn't stop moving, like he was anxious about something. Or maybe the seal was weakening. I didn't want to know what would happen if that were the case. I thought about what had happened today. It was crazy, really. I didn't fully understand what the girl was, or what her power was, but it made me feel uneasy. It had hurt kind and gently Hinata, who wanted nothing more than to help the girl. It sounded as though she couldn't control it... that was familiar and I could relate to that. I was determined to keep my promise to Hinata to find this nameless girl. I don't know what had come over me in the hospital, when I saw Hinata hurt again. It was like the preliminaries all over again. Wow, I hadn't thought of that day for months now – while I was training the only day I remembered perfectly, just like it was yesterday, was the day Sasuke left. Not when he left with the four Sound shinobi, but when we truly fought. It was permanently branded into my mind – him telling me I didn't understand, me confessing my bond, and him letting me live. I pushed the memory aside before I had nightmares about it that night, and focused on the day of the preliminaries. To be honest, she kind of inspired me to win. I wanted to beat Neji for her, to prove that we can change our fate, and I did. But hearing about his circumstances outraged me; I couldn't imagine Hinata doing that to her cousin or anyone. I would keep my word to him. Just another promise on my steadily rising list of things to do. I groaned. I really loved making promises, and I intended to keep every single one, but at this rate I wasn't going to be Hokage for a long time. That was fine though – I never went back on my word. I would get Sasuke back, save the branch family, _and _find this mysterious girl. It wasn't going to be easy, but there were no shortcuts to becoming Hokage. I grimaced when I thought of the last – I had no clue where to begin. She had up and vanished without a trace, not even the ninja dogs could track a scent. Well, it wasn't that they couldn't find a scent, it's just it was _everywhere _and it completely puzzled the dogs to the point where Kakashi just called them off. Just from the look of Granny Tsunade, one of the legendary Sennin, all torn up and burnt, I could tell it was a powerful explosion. I frowned. Maybe she even had a power that could match mine.

As if the beast could hear me, it moved again, more forcefully. And then I heard a low chuckle in my head, and realised the Kyuubi was laughing.

_You have no idea, boy. She will find you, don't you worry about that. _

I froze mid-step. The Kyuubi then returned to the pit he had temporarily risen out of to whisper in my mind, his dark chuckle fading to an echo. Okay, now I was even more confused. I wasn't sure if I had heard right, or if I was going crazy. I think I would rather the latter.

I felt it again for the second time since returning home. I turned on my heels, tugging out a kunai from my pouch. The fenced off walkway was utterly void of any sign of life, and the moon made the tall fences cast long shadows. There was no one in sight. I relaxed. I was being totally paranoid, not very ninja of me at all.

"_Caw-caw!" _

I leapt into the air at the sudden outburst of noise close to my ear. I glanced up to my left and saw a crow standing on the fence next to me, staring at me with its black beady eyes.

I exhaled sharply, muttering, "Stupid fucking crow."

The bird was unmoving, and just continued to stare at me as I walked past. As soon as I was out of the alleyway, I ran home, still feeling as though someone were watching me.

**Thoughts? Sorry for the long wait, but you're welcome for the extra long chapter ;) Reviews would be appreciated, but honestly I can't wait to write the next chapter so expect it a little sooner than this one. **


	7. Chapter Six

It had been two days since I had left that dreary compound. Two days since my feet stepped out of that dreary country that never stopped crying. The journey through Kusagakure had taken much longer than I had expected, and I was completely exhausted and in need of a hot meal that hadn't burnt over a campfire. I had spent both nights sleeping in the shadows of tall, strange trees with giant mushrooms protruding like branches from the trunk. They provided a surprisingly good shelter from the light showers. Despite the cold and the hard floor – oh and how could I forget the giant venomous spiders – I actually really enjoyed the trip. It was all so new to me since I had never left the compound, let alone cross the border to another country. I discovered that the colour of the sky was blue, and clouds could in fact be white instead of grey. The heavens after twilight had passed were probably the highlight of it all. The first night I camped out just over the border of the nameless country, in an empty, grassy field, and stared up at the cloudless sky with its thousands of twinkling stars and constellations that I had read of, but never seen with my own eyes. It hadn't taken me as long as I expected to cross the border, probably because I just couldn't wait to leave my weeping village, but I did take at least half a day longer than planned in the village hidden in the grass. Quite frankly, I was just so caught up in the colours. You never see any colour in Amegakure; it was never anything more than a monotonous wasteland away from the main village, and even then it's sparse. The variety of hues; blues, greens, reds, browns, even yellows, were just so astonishing. Colours I had only imagined in my wildest daydreaming were in full-bloom every single day. I didn't even know where I was most of the time. Not like I needed to know – the tug dragged me along; all I had to do was lift my feet. But as I walked further and further towards my apparent 'destiny', I felt this strange sensation. It was building up with every step I took, and made me feel as though my blood was boiling. I couldn't figure it out, but besides the scenery I was so absorbed in, I kept on thinking of hateful things that I would do to this person once I met him. It was startling, but I would actually find myself trembling with rage at the smallest things. For instance, I had been gathering edible berries for a snack on my first night, and left them in a small pile on a leaf by my bag pack to collect water from the stream. When I returned, a small rabbit was nibbling on the last one. Seeing all my hard work gone to waste, something snapped inside me, and all I remember after that is waking up on the ground some hours later in a burnt, dead place where all the trees, flowers and grass had been incinerated, colours gone. I was utterly terrified. It was beginning again – the blackouts, I mean. I used to get them a lot as a child; I would get into fits of rage and then wake up shortly, sometimes surrounded by debris or under a fallen ceiling, even covered in the blood of others. I thought I had learnt to keep my power in check and not let it rule me, but now the feeling was intensifying, struggling to break its way through my barrier and envelop me in constant nothingness.

It was all I could think about after that. Actually that wasn't true. I thought of my last night at the compound and it would even further my anger. Seeing the room that my awful father resided in caused me to have nightmares of the current slaves on the walls of that pitch black dungeon, clothed of course because I couldn't picture them any other way, little Chiyaki dying in front of my eyes, wrapped in chains and looking as though she had been virtually beaten to death. The very worst, the most unbearable and terrorizing part of these nightmares haunted me even when my eyes were open. I would be in the dark room, surrounded by moaning and whimpering feminine voices, and then from the far side of the room, a low chuckle would resonate throughout the room. I would yell and scream at the laughing figure to stop, to let the innocent go, but they would only respond by snapping their fingers, creating a small flame just like my father did that night. The person sitting in my father's golden throne had this slightly insane look in his featureless eyes, and his grin was sadistically cruel, like that of a psychopathic murderer. The person was me; a deranged, vindictive version of myself. It was a good thing I hid in secluded areas, because I woke up screaming both nights and sweating feverishly. I would shake my head, trying to rid the images from my mind, but it would just cause me to feel rage and hatred. The scene in that room was eternally imprinted into my mind, and the pure evil that radiated from it made me shiver. My father had covered their chakra and life force from my Byakugan with his dark genjutsu. He was definitely worthy of his title.

After one too many restless nights I found myself in a small town in the Land of Fire called Tanzaku. It was infamous for its women and gambling opportunities, but those were of no attraction to me. I went to the first shop I saw, a small tea shop with long chairs with white tablecloths outside under the oriental style awning. It had a sign displaying dumplings and other hot food. My mouth watered, and I set my bag down at a table in the corner, pulling my hood off and shaking out my messy red hair. A girl a few years younger than me came up, giggling and blushing frantically. I ignored her stuttering attempt at conversation and ordered two plates of dumplings with some hot tea. A woman who sat at the table opposite me had been staring since I entered the tea shop, and it made me slightly uncomfortable. She was probably a year or two older than I, blonde and slim, and she wore the symbol of a Sand shinobi on her forehead protector. On her back she carried what appeared to be folded fans. I pretended to not notice and as soon as my food arrived, I dug in, completely forgetting her scrutinizing gaze.

"_Temari-san_!" A female voice called out loudly, apparently addressing her, as she glanced up at the mention of her name. I watched as a pink haired girl, a blonde boy wearing an orange tracksuit, both about the same age as me, and an older man with naturally silver hair and wearing typical shinobi attire, rushed into the tea shop, straight up to the woman. She was obviously surprised to see them but greeted them with a wave of her dumpling stick. They were not so carefree, and looked at each other warily. They turned their backs to me, crowding in a tight circle around the Sand ninja. I ignored them and continued with my meal. It was delicious, even more so because I hadn't eaten anything but nasty canned soup for a few days. I picked up my cup and was just about to take a big gulp when I froze, cup in midair as images flashed through my head of a woman's face. I stared at the backs of the boy in orange and the flak jacket of the older man, my mind spinning. That symbol... the red swirl. Snippets of memories lost to me resurfaced – a woman wearing a long white robe, with that symbol on the back. But the robe was soaked in blood, and someone was screaming in the background. It was a hazy vision, as though I were underwater and drowning in the screams around me.

The sound of shattering glass brought me back to reality. I glanced up and saw that my cup had slipped from my grasp, and broken all over the floor. Stares bore into the back of my head as I bent down to grab the larger pieces, before the giggling waitress came with a small dustpan and broom, insisting that I sit down and let her clean it up. Uncomfortably, I returned to my seat and sat facing the wall to avoid spectator's intense gaze, intending to return to my meal to recover from the embarrassment. I pulled up my hood and ate with less enthusiasm than before, my mind racing with questions. I hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but I heard the word Akatsuki and my interest peeked.

"... -taken Kazekage Gaara," the silver-haired man said slowly. "It is thought that he somehow infiltrated the village. One fought with Gaara, and he used exploding clay. They were last seen carrying him in a giant white clay bird's talons. So far, nobody has seen of them since they left the village with Gaara."

The woman was stunned to silence. She reached for her cup, and when she did it cracked. She shook her head clear.

"G-Gaara?!" her concerned tone made it seem like the name meant a lot to her, and the person who it belonged to was precious to her. Hearing this sparked my interest. I had heard rumours about the young Kazekage of the Sand. He was said to be the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. It was none of my business, but my brother had been in contact with Akatsuki recently. For what reason were unknown to me – I even know if it had anything to do with the Sand's situation – but I had overheard my older brother talking with clan members about the tailed beasts, powerful animal-like demons with incredible chakra. I had a feeling it wouldn't end with the One-Tail.

The three shinobi wore Hidden Leaf Village forehead protectors. The blonde boy... he gave me a peculiar sensation. He was about the same height as me, maybe a little bit shorter, with spiky bright blonde hair and blue eyes. He had three thin whisker-like marks on his face, giving him a slightly feral look. When I was around very strong chakra sources, my energy drew out chakra from that person more than anything else. It rarely happened to me, except in the presence of my father, but I knew when I was experiencing it because I would feel the pull of energy increase to draw in more chakra, before releasing it back into the atmosphere. But this feeling was different – stronger than any other pull I had experienced. But that wasn't what concerned me – the vibes I was getting from this boy made the hairs on my neck stand on end. Not in fear, but in what seemed like... anticipation? It felt as though my body were anxiously waiting for something to transpire. I frowned at him, my eyebrows pulling together in frustration.

He suddenly turned and looked directly at me, my white eyes meeting his blue ones, and for a second I could swear they flashed red. Mortified that I had been caught staring; I hastily grabbed my bag and stood up to leave, throwing down a few notes and some change as a tip for the girl. As I walked past the group of shinobi, they discreetly watched me out of the corner of their eyes. The blonde boy didn't even hide his gaze, and gawked at me with wide eyes.

I knew what they were probably wondering, and cursed myself for not being more careful about it. No one knew about my clan, we had tried to remain a shadow throughout history, guiding other clans to dark means. Occasionally members of the clan would be born with the Byakugan. Those who had the misfortune, were deemed trash and thrown into the river as soon as they opened their infant eyes, so I heard. Now, it was very uncommon for a child to be born into my clan with the Byakugan, and hadn't occurred during my father's reign. I was the exception and because of my fate, it was ruled out as tolerable and even _'useful'_, nonetheless I was still ostracized because of it. None of the other boys would even come near me, let alone talk to me, and their father's told them that without my future, I would be nothing, and they grew to fear me or be jealous of my inexplicable, uncontrollable power. I was isolated, and struggled to make it through the days without having loneliness devour my conscious. At my worst, I would wake up and everything would be fully reduced to ashes around me, while my father stood watch, grinning with glee. To compromise my identity would be to expose my clan, and as much as I loathed their way of life and merciless ways, they were still the people who raised me. They were all I had whether I liked it or not, and though they only saw me as an important pawn in their greater plan, the same blood ran through our veins, and I could not bring myself to slaughter my own flesh intentionally. I couldn't hurt anyone with the intention to kill. Our secrets must remain hidden. My clan was evil, there was no doubt about that, and had sought the destruction of the world many times, allying with those who also shared those aspirations. Children were taught by the elders of the clan that our main purpose in life, the single reason we lived, was to live out the will of our ancestors, and do whatever means necessary to accomplish that. It had been drilled into their heads by the time they reached maturity. It was the driving force behind my clan, which allowed us to live in seclusion and follow our destiny when the time was right. But my destiny was confusing to say the least. I didn't understand why our ancestors would matter today, and I detested the fact that my clan never changed their ideals because of their endearing devotion to tradition, to bringing about change through annihilation. Others had chosen another course of action of course, abandoned their duties and tried to follow the peaceful path, the righteous one. The path where you have a true family. But few had been successful – our clan was not forgiving to those who betrayed and opposed their ideals. Even I was begrudgingly left alone by other clan members who wanted me dead because I didn't agree with their sick and twisted view on how life should be lived. Of course, that didn't apply to my father and brother. They would beat me within an inch of my life and call it 'training' just so they could show me that despite my prophesized future, I was still nothing compared to them. They made sure I knew my place.

I paused for a second at the gates of the town, completely oblivious to my surroundings. Once again, the pull in my gut urged me to go on, to continue my hateful raging. My hands were shaking terribly, and my head felt slightly dizzy. I inhaled slowly, and then exhaled, attempting to reign in my anger to no prevail. I sat on a bench by the gates and dumped my bag on the ground. I heard a light clang, and glanced up. My mother's forehead protector lay face up on the ground. I gingerly picked it up and turned it over in my hands, feeling the cool, smooth engraving under my fingertips. The single swirl in the shape of a circle glinted under the rays of the sun. Is it said that my mother's home, her country and village, had been destroyed by clan's who feared they're great fūinjutsu during the Shinobi wars. I knew, however, that this was not true. It was not the work of many clans', but one that sought their demise. I learnt of my mother's origins from an old housemaid who lived in the kitchen. She had served under my father personally while he was away on travels for many years, and had been there to tend to my mother, and she cared for her as though she were her own flesh. It was my father's clan who had wiped out the Land of Whirlpools and almost everyone in it, thirty two years ago. What their motive was that day is unknown to me, but my mother was seized, captured as a sort of trophy and forced to marry my father.

She had to abandon her family, to follow my father. I don't remember much about my mother – I was still so young when she was taken away from me, but the housemaid had told me that my mother had lost almost everyone in the invasion; her mother, her father, brothers and cousins. Her land destroyed, her people eradicated, and those who survived fled aimlessly. She was only nine at the time and had struggled against the initial wave, but her family fought and fell, leaving only her and her five year old sister behind. At that moment they were truly alone, probably the only souls still in Uzushiogakure, days after the attack. This was when my young father, newly renowned head of his clan and leader of this vendetta, found the pair hiding out in their home, almost starved to death, but breathing nonetheless. My father had sensed very strong chakra and sniffed it out, which is how he found my mother and her sister. My mother agreed to go willingly with my father as long as he sent her sister to safety and she saw that. According to the housemaid, her younger sister was sent to a camp set up by the Third Hokage of Konoha, and was found and taken in by a widow from her clan who lived there. The young girl was put under a strong, enduring genjutsu to believe that all of her family had died in the war, but to feel no pain because of it, and live on believing that she had no idea who her family were. The genjutsu would only strengthen over time, and eventually she would forget all recollection of her land lost to the sea. My mother was added to the countless number of slaves he had acquired from his victory, but she was always his prize and he was determined to have her. When she was of ripe age, he snatched her up and she became his wife. One day, when she was twenty four she received news that she was pregnant. It was her third pregnancy, but the first were girls and much to her horror they were thrown into the river by her husband's, my father's command. Despite her failures, he still kept her around instead of killing her, which led to much speculation, since my father wasn't exactly the . She feared for her unborn child's life, though upon finding it was a boy my father was overjoyed.

When the old woman told me this I laughed: _"Why would he be happy about my birth? He hates me, he always has!"_ I yelled, thinking it was cruel of her to lead on my feelings like that. The servant just stared at me intensely, the skin around her wrinkly eyes pulling back to eye me. It was as though she were trying to see into my soul, and now that I thought about it she probably was, implanting thoughts and beliefs about my mother that I never got to hear for myself with those wise eyes. She simply turned away from me, saying that my mother always loved me more than enough for the both of them. It was a sufficient answer for me, and I never doubted it. In the past I had trouble keeping my emotions under control, especially after... everything but I moved past that and trained hard, focusing on my chakra control and trying to find ways to calm myself. But sometimes – actually a lot of the time – when I felt this energy threatening to escape and envelop everything in its path in utter nothingness, I would think of my mother, and what I my mind imagined her to be like. Beautiful, happy, kind and loving. I dreamed of what our life would be like together if she wasn't taken away from me; we would live in a small wooden shack off the secluded coast of the Fire Country, by the ocean closest to her destroyed home. I had never seen the ocean, but I could just envision us sailing on a warm summer's day in a little yacht, the sea gently lapping against the sides, salty breeze carrying us along. We would visit the ruins known as Uzushiogakure to pay our respects, and then leave a bunch of white lilies that mother had grown in her garden. And one day mother would reunite with her sister, and aunty would be just as beautiful as mother. I would find my mother's missing clan and create another village around our home. My mother, aunty and I would all live together in our hut, a happy family – a proper family. Like all my dreams, they were merely that, and would never come true while I lived under my father's house and rule. And unless I fulfilled my duty, my fate they all talked about, my destiny they forced me to accept, I would never earn my freedom and rid myself of this bloody clan. I would never, ever know what it would be like to see the ocean, to have that real family. I didn't want to hurt people, or cause a reign of darkness, I knew that deep in my heart. It really wasn't a hard choice. Hell, I didn't even like living in a place where it's always dark, I'd much rather live in a place with warm weather and good food. But my father... he scared me for reasons I could not fathom. I loathed him but I could never go against him. I was too weak. I thought about how he had easily manipulated me with those disturbing images, how I had practically begged for him to release me from his genjutsu. To oppose him would mean death for me, either by his hand or by Takeshi's. I don't know who would be more eager at the opportunity to kill me once I became useless – my father or my brother. Both are probably just waiting for the day that I fail so they have an excuse.

My hands trembled violently as this thought came to mind, and suddenly I couldn't breathe. I tried to open my mouth, but it was as though it were sewn shut. My father flashed before my eyes, smiling that all-too familiar menacing smile. He chuckled pitilessly as I clawed at my throat, desperate to seek air. Even when the images stopped, his chuckle boomed all through my body, while I sought air with the desperation of a madman.

"_You okay there?" _

It was as though I had been snapped back to the real world, and all of the realistic sensations I had been suffering under lifted, and I realised I was still sitting on the bench, grasping my mother's forehead protector. A stranger cast a shadow over me, and I didn't dare glance up, instead just nodding.

"I'm fine, thank you." But even as I said it I heard the deception in my shaky voice. I reached for my bag, but before I could put my mother's forehead protector in my knapsack, the person cleared their voice.

"Hey, I know that symbol!" The person loudly proclaimed enthusiastically.

I glanced up to get a glimpse of the somehow familiar stranger. I could tell from the feeling his chakra gave me; it felt as though I were being replenished, my energy increased even though I had just been put under what felt like a horrifying genjutsu. It was the boy from the teashop; the yellow headed one that gave me a strange feeling – or at least a shadow clone of him. I stood up and turned away from him, putting away my mother's forehead protector then pulling my bag over my shoulder and walking out the gates of the town. The clone followed me. I didn't want to discuss anything with this stranger – not the symbol or the fact that I possessed one of his village's most precious kekkei genkai.

"I know the symbol's origins." I lied, "I have no business with you, so please leave and let me be on my way."

My strides became longer, so the boy had to jog to keep up with my pace. My form flickered as I leapt into the tall trees surrounding the path, trying to escape my pursuer. I had no idea where I was going, so it seemed the boy would probably have the advantage as it was his home turf and he must have known this land off by heart, but as I propelled myself from tree to tree, my feet moved on their own accord, and the wrenching feeling in my stomach pulled me in the direction I needed to go.

"Hey! Where ya going? You seemed pretty spooked back there on the bench. I'm not here to hurt you or anything; I'm just wondering why you have a forehead protector with _that _symbol!" he was very noisy and persistent I had to admit. He chased me for a good hour before I grew tired of the chase and suddenly stopped in my tracks in a meadow with a deep stream running through the green grass. I turned to face him just as he appeared on the other side of the river.

"Finally you stopped!" he beamed, barely phased.

"What do you want? Just leave me alone. I'm just a traveller." I said abruptly, ignoring him. He was beginning to frustrate me, and the angry pit in my centre was building up to a point where I wouldn't be able to control my actions. I can owe that to the genjutsu I'm sure I was just put under. Not only that, but my rage tugged at all the energy around me, increasing my body's gravity-like pull.

He put his hands up defensively, and then said hesitantly, "I just wanted to know why you have that forehead protector. That's all."

I raised my eyebrows at him. Why did it matter to this stranger so much? I weighed up the pro's and con's of telling this boy the truth, and when I decided there wouldn't be any harm in telling this boy the truth, I dropped my bag on the ground in the shade of a tree and leaned against the trunk, my arms resting on my knees bent in front of me. I pulled out the forehead protector with my clan's symbol on it, smoothing my fingers over the etched symbol. The boy sat opposite me, his expression uncertain. I glanced up at him, and tilted my head to the side, taking in his appearance. I could tell it was a shadow clone; I didn't even have to activate my Byakugan. The feeling I had gotten before had lessened, halved in fact.

"Before I tell you anything, tell me why you sent a shadow clone after me and not your real self? It's impolite when introductions are made." I snorted, staring at the blowing leaves in the trees. It was beautiful to watch, and in all honesty I found the tranquillity of the forest in the Fire Country helped keep my anger at bay. I was just sad it would only be for a short time before I had to return to the compound, to my dreary land.

"Oh, sorry I had to send a shadow clone; I'm on a top secret mission to rescue my friend!" he looked sad, but determined when he spoke of this friend who I suspected was the Kazekage.

"Friend?" I repeated the word but it came out more like a question. I hadn't heard the word in years; it was a foreign term to me now. I don't even remember what it feels like to have one, since I was perpetually alone at the compound, secluded in my solitary sanctuary. I'm sure my face may have given this away, because the boy stared at me questioningly, as though he were appalled at my puzzled expression.

"Yeah, a friend, someone you care about who you want to protect. You have friends don't you?"

I paused, thinking about the boys my age in the clan's Academy who sneered from a distance at me because they couldn't stand to be around me. I thought about the maids, who were now after so many years, still afraid of me and would only talk to me when they had to. I cared about little Chiyaki, but I could not protect her. I thought about my brother, who only put up with me for his sake, and my father, who I could probably say the same about. Then another person popped into my mind, whose memory I had tried to suppress for many years.

"I had a friend once. Many years ago, when I was about ten."

"You _had_ a friend?" He replied, emphasizing my use of past tense. I ignored his speculating tone and continued.

"Well, she was actually my younger sister, she was five."

His jaw dropped. "I-I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. "

I smiled at him as waves of buried memories resurfaced. I went on to explain to distract myself from the emotions currently overwhelming me.

"It's fine, it was such a long time ago I don't really think about it much." I lied. I wasn't really that keen on revealing a dark secret of mine to complete stranger, but his eyes... they didn't look at me with pity – the common responses to death or loneliness, I've read – but with what looked like concern and empathy, but also it seemed to spark a reaction from the boy, and he glanced down at the ground as if his past memories had emerged as well. Seeing this, I decided to be bold.

"Actually, to tell you the truth I try very hard to forget. My younger sister, Kaminari was the only person who I could say I really believed to be my family, even if we only shared a father."

I stared off into the distance, remembering our childhood together. Thinking about it still gave me that distinct warm feeling, like it was another one of my dreams that I dreamed up during the endless days at the compound. It could have been, but the pain reminded me it was true; I was living in reality now.

"I had loved her from the day she was born, though my father had no interest in her. Her mother was captured during the raid of a temple, and had been impregnated by my father. Sadly, she died very shortly after giving birth to Kaminari. I was only a child, but I had stayed by her side and helped one of the young slaves bring my younger sister to this world, and I was the first one to hold her in my arms. Her mother made me swear on her deathbed that I would protect Kaminari from my father and I promised I would keep her safe from the adamant harm that the very small population of young girls who are born into our clan suffer from."

I knew how infant girls were treated in our clan; while most slaves who gave birth to boys were allowed to nurse their children, and stay at their side until the age of three – the age when they were officially conducted into the clan with this awful bloody ritual, and by the age of four were in the Academy training. After their child's third birthday the woman would either be killed or sold to a slave dealer. Then again, it wasn't much difference to my father – he killed every single one of his wives after the 'maternal period', so we would never remember our mother's and only know the will of the clan, the hatred of our ancestors.

I hesitated, asking myself if I should really be revealing clan secrets, to this strange, loud boy. I decided to ignore protocol and follow my instincts that were begging me to continue.

"The women who gave birth to girl's were killed mercilessly as soon as they gave birth, and then tossed into the river along with their newborn."

His face probably mirrored my own when I was told this. "Why? Why would your clan do something like that?!"

"It's been that way for generations. I don't know when they adopted the tradition but it's just something they've always known I guess. Not everyone wants this, but the will of the clan is unchangeable."

It was horrible – I still remembered my father's reaction when he entered the room, arms crossed behind his rigid back and head held high, after the slave had given birth to Kaminari and found that it was a girl. He turned away in disgust and made a sound that was halfway between a grunt and a snort, then spat at the ground, because he was so repulsed by the sight.

"When he came into the room shortly after the woman gave birth and saw it was a girl, he waved his hand, and immediately two masked men moved towards them slowly, like they were easy prey. I gave my newborn sister to the girl. Kaminari was so amazingly loud, it was beautiful. She cried – her infant voice surprisingly noisy for her tiny size – unaware of the danger around her. I knew I had to protect her – I had just promised her mother that I would – and for once, I actually felt like I had a purpose in life. I was her older brother, her only hope. I was weak, but I would fight as much as I could for her, even if I had to die for her to live. I loved her. So I put myself in between the attackers and my baby sister, and told them that they weren't going to touch either of their targets. My father heard this and stopped. Now, if you ever get the misfortune, and I really hope you don't, of meeting my father you'll know exactly why I'm absolutely... shit-scared of him. He turned to look at me, opposing his orders, and just laughed. He said, 'if you can defeat the attackers on your own, then I will let that brat live as a slave', and then he ordered the shinobi to not hold back against me. I was terrified; I didn't actually think my father would consider such a request that went against his traditions. I was only five, and although I had been at the Academy for a year, I was very slow to learn things. I tried to remember all of my training, and I would fight against them as hard as I could but I wasn't very big and I didn't have much skill in taijutsu or genjutsu, and the ninjutsu I knew were mostly destructive ninjutsu that would bring the whole room down. I was only outnumbered by one, though it felt like my chances might as well have been one in a hundred. I... I remembered a special jutsu though, that were written on the secret scrolls my father had somehow gotten his hands on and he forced me to read. It was under the scarce dōjutsu section of my father's collection of techniques. I held my index finger up and closed my eyes, and it was like my body could _feel _the air surrounding it.

I opened my eyes and it was as though I could see everything around me. I could see through the two shinobi's masks and recognized them as boys a few years older than me, who had been in my classes at the Academy. I could see within their bodies at the flow of their chakra, and at the way their organs pumped chakra into their chakra coils as they pulled out a blade and fed their combined physical and spiritual energy into it through the tiny pinprick holes along the surface of the skin. It was strange, but it felt... natural. I saw their exact movements; I could counter every strike and actually make my punches connect for once. I actually managed to strike them both with another technique I read in the scroll that was supposed to temporarily paralyze its victim. That's what was supposed to happen. But when I turned around to check that Kaminari was safe, I felt a presence behind me, and before I knew it, a kunai was driven through my body, only just missing my lung. I don't remember much after that, but when I came to, I had..."

The image flashed in my mind; I blinked my eyes fiercely to adjust to the scene before me. I could hear screams and Kaminari shrieking, but they were muffled. I glanced around with my hazy vision, and found a figure standing directly in front of me. My senses returned to me, and my mouth dropped, my whole body shaking as my frightened eyes, back to their normal form, took in the horrible memory. I was in a striking stance, one hand thrusting out before me.

"I had put my hand, that felt as though it were burning, through his chest, and I remember looking into his eyes and seeing the light leave them. My father approved so much of the ending that he even let Kaminari stay with me, and not become a slave. He even praised me for finally activating my Byakugan and was glad I had stolen his scrolls. He said things like my destiny was going to begin from that day on, and I was going to lead the clan into a new era one day. For months and years after that I still couldn't forgive myself and I was scared about what I don't even remember doing."

I took a glimpse up at the boy, my neck sore from prolonged staring at the gently blowing grass. He was gripping his stomach with his hand, staring at the ground with fierce intensity, his teeth clenched together.

"I... I know what you mean about hurting someone accidentally. My teacher tried to help me control my power and I almost killed him. I don't remember doing it either, all I remember was this rage taking over me. But you did it to save your sister. You were only five, and you were made to protect your sister, and you did that. It must have been a natural instinct, or something, because you saved her life even though you were injured."

I tilted my head sideways when he said this, and actually smiled genuinely. His last comment made me look at what I did differently in a new light. A natural instinct? That was a definitely a first. He understood what it was like to not be in control of yourself, of your actions. He knew what it was like to hurt someone important to you because of your own capabilities, maybe not to the extent that I did, but still enough for him to feel guilty about it. We had that common ground – that was also a first for me.

"I can tell that you know what its like, don't you? To be alone, to be feared and hated because of what is inside of you. I can feel it, you know; you and I are the same. But there's something different... you... you have much more hope than I can ever dream of. Just by looking at you and those people with you, and the way you enthusiastically go after your friend even though you presumably have no idea of his whereabouts tells me that you have found a place for you, a place filled with people who care about you, and people you would give your life to protect."

The boy was completely shocked, and it looked as though I had hit the nail on the head. "How would you know that?"

I smiled. "I was like you once, happy and confident in myself and my decisions, ready to fight for my friendship. But when my sister died, I couldn't handle it anymore, and I just gave up. My life in the compound went back to normal – as though those five years were just nothing – and I went back to being alone."

"Did they kill your sister? If they did, why would you stick around?! Why wouldn't you just leave or try to fight your way out?! That's not right to just give up like that!"

"No. They had a part in it, yes, but they weren't to blame."

"Well, who did then?!"

"I did. I killed my sister."

* * *

**Hey, sorry for the long wait! Originally this was the first half of one chapter, but then I saw it was pushing 14,000 and decided that maybe it would be a good idea to leave it there. It will progress soon! Hopefully! Reviews would help :) **


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